Covestro, KraussMaffei and IKV win polyurethanes award for advance in pultrusion

Covestro, together with KraussMaffei and the Institute of Plastics Processing at RWTH Aachen University, has won a 2017 Innovation Award for polyurethanes.

The Specialist Association of Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes (FSK) recognised their achievements for the wider industrial use of pultrusion with polyurethane resins.

The award in the category ‘Technology – Processing and Chemistry.’ was awarded by its panel of judges for increased cost-efficiency of the method for processors and the partnering approach to the project.

The award ceremony was held at the International FSK Specialist Conference Polyurethane 2017 in Gurten, Austria.

Pultruded composite sections have already proven successful in thermally insulating window frames, battery trays in electric cars and in reinforcing rotor blades for wind turbines. The process offers tremendous potential for the continuous manufacturing of composite sections, but more widespread use was prevented until now by the inadequate degree of industrialisation.

The three partners enhanced the chemistry, technology and process to significantly increase productivity as well as process and product quality. Processors can now cut costs by up to 24 percent compared to the previous method.

The new iPul machines from KraussMaffei are its first systems to incorporate system, process and die technology all from a single supplier.

Critical processing parameters, such as output rate and haul-off rate, are controlled centrally. The fibres are no longer impregnated in an open process, but rather by a metering machine in a closed injection chamber.

Apart from eliminating odour problems for a pultruder’s employees, the new technology supports precision temperature management during curing and thus increases production speeds.

The FSK has been sponsoring the Innovation Award every year since 1998 in recognition of outstanding ideas, products and processes in the categories.