Call for German SME to join a EUREKA lightweighting consortium

Circular Lightweight Components Based on Hybrid Flax–Carbon Thermoplastic Composites

The project develops an integrated technology for manufacturing lightweight, high-performance and recyclable thermoplastic components by combining structural optimization, hybrid flax–carbon reinforcement, industrial tooling and circular end-of-life strategies. The project addresses the growing need for lightweight structures that reduce material and environmental impact without compromising mechanical performance, manufacturability or economic viability.

Today, carbon-fibre-reinforced composites offer excellent lightweight structural performance, but their high material cost, energy demand and limited circularity restrict broader sustainable application. Natural-fibre composites, in contrast, can reduce environmental impact and material cost but generally cannot provide the required performance in highly loaded structural regions. The project addresses this conflict through load-path-oriented hybridization: carbon reinforcement is used selectively where high stiffness and strength are required, while renewable flax reinforcement is used in regions where its performance is sufficient. A recyclable thermoplastic matrix enables industrial processing and facilitates material recovery at end of life.

The project will develop the complete technology chain rather than a material in isolation. KIT/IPEK will establish experimentally validated simulation and optimization methods to determine the required reinforcement architecture and minimize unnecessary carbon-fibre use. TITK will develop and characterize the selected hybrid thermoplastic material systems and investigate their behaviour during processing, use and recycling. JKU/LIT Factory will develop the corresponding hybrid semi-finished products, including thermoplastic UD tape and flax-based reinforcement concepts, and establish scalable processing routes. The SME will translate the optimized component concept into an industrial tooling solution, addressing manufacturability, dimensional accuracy, cycle time and integration into serial production or provide the demonstration case and help building and manufacturing the demonstrator. Butekom will quantify environmental performance, circularity and material traceability and will support the development of a digital lifecycle/data concept. A second SME will complement the consortium with industrial application, manufacturing and/or market access.

The central innovation is the co-design of component, material architecture, tooling, manufacturing process and end-of-life strategy. Instead of optimizing material performance first and considering recycling afterwards, The project integrates circularity requirements from the beginning of the design process. The development loop will therefore connect material characterization, digital structural optimization, hybrid semi-finished products, tooling, component manufacturing, mechanical validation, recycling and life-cycle assessment.

The project will demonstrate the technology on a defined industrial lightweight component and compare it with an established reference solution. Key performance indicators will include component mass reduction, reduction in carbon-fibre consumption, mechanical performance, manufacturing cycle time, material utilisation, recyclability and environmental impact. The project will also investigate the recovery of valuable fibre-reinforced material and its suitability for higher-value secondary applications, thereby moving beyond simple downcycling.

The expected result is a validated industrial technology platform for circular lightweight components, comprising optimized component design methods, hybrid thermoplastic material architectures, scalable semi-finished products, industrial tooling and manufacturing know-how, recycling strategies and digital circularity assessment. The approach is applicable particularly to mobility, transportation and other lightweight structural applications where weight, mechanical performance, cost and circularity must be considered simultaneously.

The required SME can for instance be mouldmakers, engineering companies, machine manfacturers, digital solution providers or composite component manufacturers. The companies must be SME and take an active role in the project. The funding of the German SME will follow the ZIM funding scheme.