The Automotive Lightweight Technology Expo is one of six specialised exhibitions of AUTOMOTIVE WORLD and Asia's leading trade fair for automotive lightweight technologies. STFI and Rucks Maschinenbau GmbH, Glauchau, presented the results of their long-standing cooperation at a joint exhibition stand from 25 to 27 January 2023.

As part of the German joint stand funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), the STFI and its partner Rucks presented joint research projects and the resulting exhibits from previous years. In addition to the Saxon cooperation, other German companies from the fields of plastics machine construction and automation technology as well as suppliers of lighting systems also took part in the fair and provided information about their products and services on site.

One main topic, which has been researched at the STFI since 2006, aroused particularly great interest: Carbon fibre recycling. Many visitors to the fair enquired at the stand about transfer measures and product specifications in this field. In general, the topic of recycling is an important research area in Japan, which has been gaining more and more importance in recent years. Especially for plastics and fibre composites, thermal recycling is the most important process in dealing with waste streams.

The joint trade fair appearance further deepened the cooperation between the STFI and Rucks – the STFI with its focus on material development and process optimisation for pressing systems, and Rucks with its outstanding mechanical engineering. Both complement each other to a great extent and result in customer and material-specific systems for the production of fibre composites. Our colleagues from the field of textile lightweight construction Nicole Preßler and Christopher Albe returned from the land of the rising sun with overwhelming impressions and exciting new contacts.

We would like to thank our cooperation partner, the company Rucks, for a successful trade fair appearance and look forward to the next joint projects.

See you again at the JEC World 2023 in Paris from 25-27 April 2023 – Sayōnara and Bonjour!