Metal replacement and recyclable solutions: RadiciGroup at PLAST 2026

Among the leading themes of the stand, metal replacement stands out as one of the most significant development principles. The company reports investment in advanced simulation, application modelling and accurate material characterization, which allows RadiciGroup to provide specialized expertise and competence for projects involving high engineering complexity.

This approach makes possible state-of-the-art metal replacement, not limited to a simple functional replica of the original component, but oriented towards a redesigned part to obtain lightweighting, production optimization and new application performance. A lever of development that is especially important in sectors like water management and emobility, where engineering polymers can make a real contribution to the overall efficiency of the system.

“PLAST is an occasion for us to exhibit not only innovative materials, but also, and above all, the value of technical collaborations built side by side with our customers,” commented Erico Spini, global marketing manager of RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers. “Our goal is to accompany partners in the development of new applications capable of combining high performance, sustainability and industrial competitiveness.”

For the electrical/electronics field, the company is showcasing an advanced energy distribution system made of flame retardant materials of the latest generation from the Radiflam® range, which have been developed to meet the increasingly more stringent requirements for safety, reliability and processability.

At the RadiciGroup stand, a large space devoted to electric mobility features a demonstrator including a structural support for a battery module made of flame-retardant materials from the Renycle® family. This is a concrete example of the circular economy applied to high-performance components. Last October, the application received an award from the Society of Plastics Engineers in the “Enabler Technology” category. Also on display is an innovative electric personal transporter developed with the collaboration of other industrial partners. This emblematic case of double metal replacement – involving both structural and aesthetic components – has allowed for significant weight reduction and improvement in overall performance.

For the water management sector, RadiciGroup is featuring solutions based on the Radistrong®, Radilon® and Bionside® families. According to the company, these are designed for the progressive replacement of conventional metal materials with lightweight, safe and sustainable alternatives, in full conformity with the most rigorous international standards for contact with potable water.

The Group says that its presence at PLAST confirms its long-term commitment to developing mechanically recyclable and bio-based solutions with limited and measured environmental impact (LCA methodology), designed to support customers in reaching their sustainability objectives and conformity with standards. This is a particularly important direction for the automotive sector, also in light of the proposed European Union regulation on end-of -life vehicles (ELVs), which provides for the progressive introduction of required minimum percentages of recycled plastics in newly produced vehicles: 15% within six years and 25% within ten years (from the regulation implementation date), with at least 20% coming from closed-loop recycling, that is, from recycled materials recovered from end-of-life vehicles. This scenario is destined to further accelerate the demand for advanced materials capable of incorporating combined high performance, traceability and certified circular content.

“The market is asking for more and more customized solutions and specialized competence to start producing challenging, high value-added applications. And this where RadiciGroup shows its distinctiveness: its capacity to work side by side with customers utilizing a tailor-made approach integrating competence in research, application development and market knowledge. This expertise positions us as a trusted partner to support innovation not only in our core markets, but also in new application areas driven by global megatrends, such as robotics and data centers” Erico Spini concluded.

With a vertically integrated production chain, a strong international presence and vertical competence, unique in the world of polyamides and engineering polymers, RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers offers its services as a technological partner to work together with customers to tackle the challenges of the global industrial evolution.

You can review grades for automotive, electrical & electronics applications and compare properties in the Master Catalog of Plastics