James Cropper Advanced Materials and Hexcel have joined forces through the European Composites Circular Alliance (ECCA) to accelerate the development of high-value composite materials made from recycled carbon fiber.

The collaboration focuses on combining James Cropper s UNIMAT material, enabled by its VECTIS aligned fibre technology, with Hexcel s expertise in high-performance composites to create recycled fiber solutions capable of meeting the mechanical and manufacturing requirements of demanding sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and advanced mobility

The objective is not alignment alone, but the development of enhanced, high-value recovery composite materials made from recycled carbon fibre that deliver meaningful structural performance.

Within ECCA, a core focus is the advancement of composite materials derived from recycled fibre for aerospace and defence applications, where performance, processability and material utilisation are closely linked to deliver best value recovery solutions.

David Tilbrook, Senior Technical Fellow at Hexcel   For aerospace applications, improved fibre alignment supports stiffness-driven designs core to lightweighting and fuel burn reduction. Fuel accounts for over 90 percent of an aircraft's lifetime emissions and up to 30 percent of airline operating costs and so weight reduction is a key environmental and economic driver. Increasing the value of composites using recycled fibres like this addresses exactly the kind of challenge ECCA aims to solve by promoting industry-wide collaboration.

Andy Walton, Managing Director, James Cropper Advanced Materials says   ECCA provides the framework for industry-wide collaboration, and working with Hexcel within that framework allows us to accelerate learning and development in a way that benefits the wider composites ecosystem. This new UNIMAT range shows what can be achieved when recycled carbon fibre, alignment, fibre volume, and industrial scalability are addressed together. That is the challenge ECCA exists to solve, and this collaboration brings that ambition into practice.

Products developed through this collaborative work are being showcased on both companies stands at JEC World.