Sabic and Local Motors Find It Is Feasible to Recycle Scrap, Thermoplastic, 3D Printed Parts

SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, and Local Motors, a next-generation vehicle manufacturer announced that they have completed a study to see whether parts made using large format additive manufacturing (LFAM) could be recycled into new materials before ultimately being made into new parts. The joint study was done on the feasibility of recycling scrap thermoplastic parts and savings from the 3D printing process. In order to determine this, researchers tracked the printability and mechanical properties of parts made with SABIC’s LNP™ THERMOCOMP™ AM reinforced compound after it has been recycled. The results were extremely promising, though the researchers stressed that more work needs to be done before this is a truly effective solution.

Sustainability is increasingly important in a variety of industries, including additive manufacturing especially when it comes to disposing of parts. Manufacturers are considering how to become more sustainable, both as a way to help the environment and to reduce costs. One of the ways that many are accomplishing this is by attempting to turn more towards a circular manufacturing process, a key part of a circular economy. In this process, manufacturers seek to recycle already made parts back into materials, enabling them to be used again for future parts. This is the backbone of this particular joint study.

The SABIC research laboratory in the Netherlands where they perform studies like this one (photo credits: SABIC)

The feasibility study and its results

As previously mentioned, the goal of this feasibility study was to explore sustainable alternatives to landfilling large, printed parts as a way to ease wider adoption of LFAM. Currently there is no established value chain for reclaiming post-production LFAM parts and scraps. And up until now, most of the recycled parts had been smaller and often used materials such as PLA which is already designed to be biodegradable.