AKRON, OH—An air intake manifold made of 100 percent recycled nylon has won an Automotive Innovation Award in the Power Train Category from the Society of Plastics Engineers.

The manifold was designed and manufactured by Tier 1 automotive supplier Marelli and molded from Renycle, a 100 percent recycled nylon polymer manufactured by the RadiciGroup. 

The manifold was designed to meet stringent performance requirements: high burst pressure, pressure pulsation, prolonged vibration, thermal cycling and thermal shocks. Particular attention was paid to noise vibration and harshness analysis to ensure the part had the same acoustic performance as manifolds made with conventional materials.

Glass-fiber-reinforced nylon has almost completely replaced metals in a variety of under-the-hood automotive applications. RadiciGroup has long been supplying PA6-FV and PA66-FV polymers for various automotive OEMs worldwide. In this particular case, however, the challenge was to mold the part from 100 percent mechanically recycled polyamide. To produce Renycle, RadiciGroup must carefully select, clean and control the raw materials to ensure consistent high quality.

RadiciGroup engineers calculated that producing the manifold from Renycle results in 70 percent lower CO₂ emissions than making the part with virgin material produced from fossil fuels.