Fairmat creates a new material based on recycled carbon fiber composites

[kafa88]

Meet Fairmat, a new French startup that wants to improve the slot recycling process for sophisticated composite materials. The company wants to produce new types of materials from material waste and sell them to industrial companies.

Fairmat has just raised a $ 10 million (€ 8.6 million) funding round led by Singular. Several business angels also participated in the round.We are working on a scalable solution that handles the end of life for these materials," Fairmat founder Benjamin Saada told me. Previously, he was a co-founder of Expliseat.

The company believes that high-tech materials will not disappear. Carbon fiber composites are extremely useful for wind turbines or airplanes, for example, as they provide incredible properties. But you don't need to use fancy materials for everything.

This is why we rely heavily on cheaper materials such as plastics, wood, and various metal alloys to build new things. Fairmat does not want to replace carbon fiber composite in wind turbines and aircraft.He wants to replace plastics, wood and metal in everyday objects. The company is transforming

the existing carbon fiber composite into a new material that is lightweight and robust.Today, carbon composite waste is burned or landfilled," Saada said. With the Fairmat process, the company can recycle the composite material with a mechanical process that is not too demanding. It does not involve heating carbon fiber composite waste, for example.

The startup also relies on machine learning to test the physical properties of its material.Fairmat then plans to sell his material to industrial customers so they can use it themselves. For example, you could imagine building the cargo box of a cargo bike out of Fairmat material. It could be lighter than wood or metal and it also offers a better carbon footprint compared to virgin material.