Project: Upscaling of Thermoplastic Welding Technology

Acronym	Up-Weld (Reference Number: MNET20/NMCS-3776)
Duration	01/11/2020 - 01/11/2022
Project Topic	The objective of the Up-Weld project is to evaluate and demonstrate the scale-up of current thermoplastic welding technology to enable welding of large-size components with welds of over 100 m length. Large structures such as wind turbine rotor blades or boat hulls manufactured from thermoset materials cannot be recycled efficiently. At the end of life, they are often disposed in landfills, incinerated or grounded down and used as filler for e.g. concrete. New developments in material technology enable the manufacture of large fibre reinforced components using thermoplastic materials as a matrix instead of thermosets. Thermoplastics offer the possibility for recycling by re-melting or depolymerisation and contribute to a circular economy. An added advantage of thermoplastics is that they can be joined using welding technologies instead of paste adhesive, significantly decreasing manufacturing time. Currently, welding of thermoplastic parts up to 2.5 m has been demonstrated. To take the full advantage of the recyclability and manufacturing efficiency of thermoplastic fibre reinforced composites, it is necessary to scale-up the welding from a laboratory to an industrial scale.
Network	MANUNET III
Call	MANUNET CALL 2020

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Pontis Engineering B.V.	Coordinator	Netherlands
2	Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Innovation and Technology S.L.	Partner	Spain
3	Twenco MC B.V.	Partner	Netherlands