Air Intake Manifolds Manufactured with Chemically Recycled Material Achieve a Reduction of CO_2 Emissions and Costs Saving with Similar Mechanical Resistance

摘要

In the current Brazilian air intake manifold market, most of the small car applications use the reinforced polyamide PA 6.6 GF30 as base material. The glass fiber (30%) guarantees the required mechanical resistance, necessary once the manifold is assembled on the engine and is subjected to considerable vibration levels. Air intake manifolds were developed using a new chemically recycled material recuperated from yarn production process, called Technyl ECO, which represents a reduction of 4.3 kg of CO_2 equivalent per 1 kg of polyamide produced. This material can replace the current one, once it has the same formulation (PA 6.6 GF30) and similar mechanical resistance. Moreover, it represents a cost saving up to 10% in the raw material. The air intake manifolds injected with the recycled material were subjected to the mechanical validation tests under severe conditions of accelerated aging at temperature of 140°C and thermal shock with abrupt temperature change from -40°C to 120°C. All samples were approved according to the specifications for life under vibration, metallic inserts extraction, bursting, pressure drop and impact.