International. Solvay, Cardolite Corporation and SHD Composite Materials Ltd are supporting the University of Leuven's Punch Powertrain Solar team in building the Punch One, a Belgian solar car made from bio-based resins.
The Punch One, which will run at the Solar Challenge in Australia in October, was created with epoxy-impregnated carbon fibre prepreg materials and cured with a hardener based on cashew shell liquid (CNSL), a renewable natural chemical feedstock.
The university students who built the solar car used an autoclave curing process to produce the compound. SHD Composite combined its expertise in prepreg manufacturing with products from Cardolite and Solvay to develop a bio-based carbon fiber composite (CFR) material.
As a result, the final bio-content of the Punch One's resin matrix is estimated to be 45%. The excellent wetting properties of CNSL-based hardeners and the improved inter-laminar shear strength of the final compound resulted in a lightweight, strong impact-resistant epoxy body with an overall bio-content of 18%.
