Toyota announces a new investment in a circular factory in Poland

Toyota Motor Europe has announced the establishment of its newest Circular Factory in Walbrzych, Poland. The facility will cover 25,000 square metres and process close to 20,000 End-Of-Life vehicles every year. This investment represents another significant step in TME’s strategy to develop a circular economy model based on the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle. The aim is to maximise environmental benefits through precise and systematic processing of vehicles at the end of their life cycle.

The new factory in Poland will apply a comprehensive approach to End-Of-Life vehicle processing. It will recover components that can be used again as well as valuable raw materials. Items such as batteries and wheels will be evaluated for their potential to be remanufactured, repurposed or recycled. Toyota also intends to recover materials including copper, steel, aluminium and plastics for use in the production of new vehicles.

The Circular Factory will expand the activities of the existing Walbrzych plant, which already produces key components for Toyota’s hybrid and conventional powertrains. 

“This is our second #CircularFactory in Europe. The first was launched in 2025 in Burnaston in the United Kingdom and has become our benchmark for the development of circular economy operations,” said Leon van der Merwe, Vice President of Circular Economy at #ToyotaMotorEurope.

“We selected Poland due to the strong market potential to source End-Of-Life vehicles, recycling upstream & downstream and the presence of our established manufacturing infrastructure. In the coming years we plan to introduce similar investments in other European markets,” he added.

Circularity is both a pathway to and an enabler of carbon neutrality. It lowers the demand for carbon intensive raw materials and strengthens supply chains. By designing vehicles for reuse, remanufacturing, #recycling and material efficiency, circularity can help cut emissions across the entire value chain.

source : Toyota Motor Europe

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐭

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐭

You designed it perfectly in CAD.

But after molding… the part bends.

That’s warpage — and it’s one of the most challenging issues in injection molding.

🔍 What causes warpage?

Warpage happens when internal stresses are not balanced during cooling.

Typical causes include:

❌ Uneven wall thickness

❌ Non-uniform cooling channel layout

❌ Unbalanced filling or packing

❌ Fiber-reinforced materials with directional shrinkage

❌ Incorrect mold temperature control

Even small temperature differences inside the mold can create measurable distortion.

🧠 Why warpage matters

📏 Poor assembly fit

🔧 Increased post-processing

💸 Higher scrap rates

😬 Customer complaints

In precision components, even 0.3–0.5 mm deviation can cause serious problems.

💡 How engineers reduce warpage

✅ Maintain uniform wall thickness

✅ Optimize cooling channel design

✅ Balance gate placement

✅ Simulate material shrinkage behavior

✅ Control packing pressure carefully

Warpage is not “bad luck” — it’s physics.

And physics can be managed with the right design approach.

SCSplastic we evaluate cooling, flow balance, and material behavior early in the DFM phase — because preventing warpage starts long before production.

Better balance = better stability = better parts.

source : SCSplastic

#InjectionMolding #Warpage #MoldDesign

PARA ARAMID WASTE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN BRAZIL

PARA ARAMID WASTE:

We are pleased to present a new procurement opportunity involving a lot of 100% para-aramid waste, consisting of approximately 11 metric tons of cut ropes and 1 metric ton of tangled filaments. Kindly refer to the attached photographs for your preliminary assessment.

The material has been recovered from subsea electro-hydraulic umbilicals and is available for immediate allocation.

Our commercial offer is inclusive of ocean freight to the port of destination under CFR Incoterms. The total volume can be efficiently shipped in one 40-foot container, delivered CFR to your designated port.

We welcome expressions of interest from qualified buyers. On-site inspection in Brazil can be arranged to ensure full transparency and facilitate a smooth and compliant transaction process.

Please feel free to contact us should you require further technical specifications or wish to proceed with due diligence.

Avantium and Will & Co Launch Collaboration to Advance FDCA in Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers

Avantium N.V., a pioneer in renewable and circular polymers, and Will & Co B.V., a distributor of specialty (bio‑based) chemicals, have launched a collaboration to accelerate the use of #FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) in Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers (CASE). FDCA is a versatile, bio‑based building block that enhances the performance of synthetic materials - including alkyd resins, surfactants, and polyester polyols - used in everyday applications such as paints, adhesives, flooring, roofing, tubing, automotive components, and construction materials. This partnership leverages Will & Co’s strong position and expertise in the CASE industry and Avantium’s patented #YXY®Technology to produce and promote FDCA as a sustainable, #biobased chemical building block.

At Avantium, we’re dedicated to driving the bioeconomy forward through strategic partnerships like this,” says Dr. Laleh Maleki, Business Development Manager. “Will & Co’s strong industry expertise will help accelerate FDCA adoption and support the transition to more sustainable solutions in the CASE industry.

“Since its founding in 1924, Will & Co has strived to enhance the quality of life by bringing new products to market. The materials are different today, but our beliefs are the same,” says Dr. Sander de Vos, Product Manager Bio-Based Chemistry. “Avantium’s FDCA product can be the start of a new era of synthetic materials for our society.

source : Avantium

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Thermoforming vs. Injection Molding

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Thermoforming vs. Injection Molding

Choosing the Right Process Matters

Thermoforming is one of the most versatile and cost-effective plastic manufacturing processes available today. By heating plastic sheet and forming it over a mold, manufacturers can produce durable, lightweight components with excellent surface finish and fast turnaround.

Common applications include:

Medical device housings and trays

Industrial enclosures and covers

Automotive and transportation components

Point-of-purchase displays and packaging

Large-format industrial parts where strength and appearance matter

When does thermoforming have an advantage over injection molding?

✔ Lower tooling costs — ideal for prototypes, low- to mid-volume production, or large parts

✔ Faster lead times — tooling and production can be launched quickly

✔ Design flexibility — easier design changes and thicker corner radii

✔ Large part capability — cost-prohibitive in injection molding

Injection molding still shines at very high volumes and tight tolerances, but for many industrial and medical applications, thermoforming delivers a better balance of cost, speed, and performance.

source : Hedrick-Walker & Associates

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : A Guide to Microscopic Failure Analysis for Plastic Products

 Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

A Guide to Microscopic Failure Analysis for Plastic Products

When a plastic component fails by cracking, its fracture surface tells the story of how and why it broke if you know how to read it. This guide outlines key procedures and considerations for conducting failure analysis of plastic components through microscopic inspection, drawing on traditional fractography while emphasising the material-specific characteristics of polymers and plastics.

🔍 Key microscopic features in faulty plastic parts:

• Mirror Zone, Mist & Hackle: The classic brittle fracture "fingerprint" that points you directly to the origin.

• Conic Marks (Parabolas): Often the smoking gun, these curves point back to a initiating defect like a contaminant or void.

• Ductile Stretching & Fibrils: Tell-tale signs of overload and yielding.

• Fatigue Striations: Found under high magnification (often with SEM), they reveal a history of cyclic loading.

• Smooth, Featureless Brittle Surfaces: A red flag for Environmental Stress Cracking (ESC) or severe material embrittlement.

⚠️ The features above most often trace back to:

• Design: Stress concentrators.

• Manufacturing: Weld lines, voids, residual stress.

• Service: ESC, chemical attack, fatigue, creep.

🛠 A structured approach is critical to success:

• Gather the history (load, environment, timeline).

• Macroscopic examination to locate the origin.

• Microscopic journey from origin through propagation.

• SEM and stereomicroscope are the primary tools in the investigation.

• Material characterization (FTIR, DSC) to confirm the type of polymer.

Microscopic inspection remains a cornerstone of plastic failure analysis, providing critical evidence to pinpoint root causes and prevent future failures. What's your biggest challenge in diagnosing polymer cracking failures?

#FailureAnalysis #Fractography #plastics #RootCauseAnalysis #Microscopy #SEM

source : PolyEdge (Consulting)