NORTHERN LIGHT COMPOSITES

Northern Light Composites is an innovative startup that deals with the research and development of recyclable composites in order to solve the problems related to the end of life of fiberglass composites. The company was founded in December 2019 by three passionate sailors who began working on the research and development of rComposite, the world’s first recyclable composite for the marine industry. In 2021 the company presented the prototype of ecoracer, the first recyclable sportboat in the world, which in 2022 won the Italian mini-opening championship on Lake Garda.

rComposite is made out of three main components: vegetable fibers, resin and polyurethane. The challenge for Northern Light Composites was to determine how the resin distributes into the material

Thanks to the measurements by X-ray microCT, a morphological characterization as well as identification of inhomogeneities were accomplished. These details, together with a chemical characterization by FTIR imaging, are very useful for identifying important tips for the optimization of the composite preparation.