The award was presented for Sigmatex’s continued technical innovation, this time for its efforts in developing a new recycled carbon fibre textile, which provides the ability to reformat all its production waste stream.
“To be recognised for the Jaguar Land Rover Innovation Award is a huge achievement which we’re very proud of,” Paul McMullan, global commercial manager commented. “The award further acknowledges our commitment to addressing an industry-wide issue and supports our innovative nature to develop cutting edge textiles for our customers.”
With the carbon fibre market currently producing more than 60,000 tonnes each year, it’s estimated that at least 30% is classified as waste product and is sent to landfill. This, combined with an anticipated increase in demand for carbon fibre over the coming years will be detrimental for the environment.
Recognising the need to address this industry wide challenge, Sigmatex has focused its efforts on developing a recycled product which utilises its production waste stream. sigmaRF is a thermoplastic carbon fibre ‘hybrid’ material, that can be press formed into a finished product. Successfully developing this product, has enable Sigmatex to convert a significant proportion of its waste in the past 12 months.
“Since the launch of sigmaRF we’ve received a host of interest, which extends across the automotive, sports and leisure sectors and it is our intention to continue to promote this technology across our customer platforms with extra focus on the automotive industry,” added McMullan. “The demand for both recycled materials and thermoplastic composites is growing significantly so we expect a very bright future for sigmaRF.”
