The REACTIF collaborative project aims to develop innovative approaches in designing and manufacturing of eco-friendly, lightweight plastic body parts for the automotive industry. This project focuses on incorporating high percentages of recycled plastics while balancing economic feasibility for mass market and micro-mobility applications.
Piloted by OPmobility, this project covers the entire value chain, from collecting and treating end-of-life vehicle components to integrate them into new automotive parts. In this context, the research will focus on the in-depth characterization of recycled materials and their reformulation to develop systems that meet automotive body part standards, with particular attention to processability and paintability.
As a postdoctoral researcher, you will be involved for a 24-month work focusing on:
- Characterizing and understanding the composition of recyclates (chemical, thermal, morphological analyses…)
- Studying processability: behavior in injection molding and correlations with rheological, thermomechanical properties and PvT diagrams.
- Developing processes to remove and compatibilize impurities in recyclates through eco-friendly washing processes and reactive extrusion.
- Enhancing formulations to increase recyclate concentration while maintaining required standards of automotive body parts.