Innovation
Polsafe®
State of the art PVC pipes and fittings.
Pipelife specialises in manufacturing PVC pipes and fittings. In regard to energy distribution, and gas in particular, its PVC Polsafe® (ductile PVC resistant to low pressures, shocks and corrosion) which was presented at the 2001 SolVin Awards has become the reference solution in the Netherlands for connecting households to the gaz distribution network. It has been enormously successfuly and studies are currently underway to adapt the system to pressure standards in other European countries. Among the other innovative products developed by Pipelife is also a PVC pipe glue whose special feature is that it is injected directly into the fittings, enabling installation time to be redu-ced by 30%. This system strengthens the position of PVC fitting even more against rubber pieces. Pipelife is currently studying the application of this glue on new prototypes, which could lead to the development of a completely new system of fittings.
Polsafe® joints enable a house to be connected to a ductile PVC gas grid without the slight est risk of leaks.
Marvel Satino®
Beautifull like glass… but better than glass!
At the 2004 SolVin Awards, the German company Marvel stood out thanks to Marvel Satino®, rigid and coloured sheets that, once glued to PVC, give it an appearance comparable to satined glass. Scratch and fire proof and showing great stability to UV, the satined appearance of the glass and the wide range of colours immediately attracted architects, designers and creators. Since then the Marvel Satino® has had several developments (fairs, exhibitions etc), its name was even linked with a famous designer (Hugo Boss) at an event on the Côte d’Azur. The success of Marvel Satino® has led Marvel GmbH to build a new production unit (investment 2,5 M€) at Bad Teinach in the Black Forest.
Rehau
Think of glazed surfaces in new dimensions!
Modern architecture is open and creative. But to give full rein to the imagination and creativity, one must continually push back the frontiers of any material’s technical performance. This is where all the ingenuity of the German firm Rehau comes in. Rehau is a company that has developed new glass collage techniques. Since its presentation at the 2004 SolVin Awards, the range has been beefed up with new innovations allowing it today to support the daring ideas of architects even further. The market has eagerly welcomed this technique and several manufacturers have already modified part of their batch production. It is now possible to offer customers windows that meet their needs even better.
OD PRO®
The first professionnal PVC ecological pipe for independent treatment of residential sewage.
In the absence of a public drainage network, sewage produced by individual residences must be treated individually. In 2004 the French company Ouest Drain developped a specific pipe for this. Placed 70 cm deep into a bed of sand and gravel, this pipe has regular slits carefully calculated to ensure a spread of sewage by gravity in the ground in an aerobic environment. Called OD PRO®, this pipe is made of PVC from regranulated recycled material made of window profile scraps, endowing it with exceptional rigidity against crushing and resistance to unusual shocks. Three years have passed since the presentation of this innovation at the 2004 SolVin Awards. Today OD PRO® has a quality image and an undisputed economic value which has already provided it with competitors.
Eurocompound
Growth in permanent innovation.
The Italian company Eurocompound manufactures sheaths for cables and PVC sheets to be applied on metal panels, particularly for electrical appliances. It aims to give a serious boost to its growth thanks to the development of new highly innovative compounds, a strategy which is bearing fruit. In fact, the new products presented at the 2004 SolVin Awards such as the STARIL EC ( PVC sheets for electrical appliances) or the STARCOM XL” (cable sheaths) today represent 5 and 12% respectively of the company’s turnover! In addition to these innovations, Eurocompound also presented three new types of compounds which all benefited from commercial outlets.
Tecnip/Extruplesa
Advertising banners in PVC: a promising market.
Two Spanish firms, Tecnip, active in the signalling sector, and Extruplesa, specialised in extrusion and manufacture of PVC profiles presented at the 2001 SolVin Awards a system of PVC ad-vertising hoardings intended to replace metal hoardings. Following a smooth take-off, several competitors are today on the verge of developping the same type of product, which shows the interest in this type of technique. Tecnip and Extruplesa thus expect to double the number of do-mestic orders in two years. Anticipating market needs, the two companies have beefed up their range by offering bigger profiles. The Technip® system is 100% PVC. Once again, as it discovers a promising new market, PVC is gradually taking over from metal.
www.tecnip.es
www.extruplesa.com
Blu Phon®
Silence, running water
In large towns or cities, we are exposed every day to all kinds of noise pollution. Nevertheless, it is essential for our health to enjoy extended periods of quiet. Also, being woken up by noise from water pipes is very irritating. In apartment buildings, noise nuisance from water drainage is a frequent occurrence. This problem has come under attack from the Italian firm Faraplan, European leaders in the production of rigid PVC pipes. Faraplan has created Blu Phon®, a range of PVC pipes and connectors for waste water draining in buildings. Its main feature? Its high level of noise insulation, which satisfies the strictest Italian and European standards. The result is surprising and shows once again the multitude of services that PVC can provide in daily life. Presented at the SolVin Award 2004, Blu Phon® now offers a very complete range, backed by every conceivable conformity certificate!
www.faraplan.it
www.bluphon.it
The acoustic performance achieved using the Blu Phon® systems is less than 30 dB, well below the limit of 35 dB required by European standards.
Hexamoll® DINCH
Safe and durable plasticizers
At a very early age, children learn to develop their five senses, in particular their sense of touch. In so doing, they systematically put their toys in their mouths. Many of these toys will be manufactured using PVC. To ensure the highest levels of safety for PVC toys, the European Commission has issued new standards. Since 1997, as part of the "Sustainable Plasticizers" research project, BASF (Germany) has been working to create new plasticizers for sensitive applications such as children’s toys, food-grade films and medical equipment in contact with products to be injected into the bodies of patients. The result? Hexamoll® DINCH. More than 5 million euros have been invested in carrying out all the necessary toxicological tests. Today, the plasticizer that has been subjected to the most advanced research on the market is also the one that benefits from an exceptional toxicological profile. Presented at the SolVin Award in 2001, Hexamoll® DINCH production has risen from 25,000 tonnes a year in 2002 to 100,000 tonnes a year in 2007!
Certain medical products using Hexamoll® DINCH, stomach feeding tubes and blood tubes for haemodialysis, are already on the market.
Chemson
"2 in 1" lubricant-stabilisers
Chemson has undertaken a good deal of research into the development of lubricantstabilisers for PVC, one of the main features of which is that they are "all-in-one" products. Chemson, which presented the fruits of its innovative work on this subject during the SolVin Award 2001, has created several lubricant-stabilisers for different existing PVC applications. Chemson lubricant-stabilisers are indispensable for PVC that satifies modern requirements (manufacture/production, adaptation to different weather conditions, appearance of the end product, recycling, etc.). Chemson "all-in-one" solutions have an extremely promising market both in Europe and the rest of the world.
Polinter
PVC and glass fibre: stronger profiles
Polinter, a company based in Barcelona, has developed PVC profiles reinforced with glass fibre. Where is the innovation? The glass fibre is applied at the precise location where it is needed. This process provides an extremely precise result that can make the most of the interaction between the two materials. This innovation can be used to make PVC sections with better thermal and acoustic insulation, especially in the case of sections more than two metres long, which are too flexible. This product, which was presented at the SolVin Award 2004, is the fruit of collaboration between Polinter and two other companies, which together form the group Fibreplas Ltd. Since then, the manufacturing process has been patented and has a very promising future.
Profiles reinforced very precisely where they need to be.
Formuplast – Plastisol EB60
PVC fits like a glove!
EB60 is a PVC plastisol designed and sold by the French company Formuplast. Nominated for the 2004 SolVin Award, it enables a non-slip coating (in dots) to be applied to work gloves and so enables sharp pieces (e.g. sheet metal) to be handled risk free.The fibres used to manufacture this type of glove made it possible to achieve flexible, light, cut-resistant and tear-resistant products, but a lot of these properties were lost when they were heated. With its low-temperature gelation threshold, EB60 enables a coating to be applied onto knitted fibres which increases the glove’s grip without altering its other properties. This market represents 4 tonnes a year. Since 2004, this innovation has led to 2 new applications : > Producing optical fibre bundles by rolling these fibres round a central polyester core coated with Plastisol EB60 to increase adherence between the central braid and the fibres. > Coating high tenacity polyethylene fishing wire with Plastisol EB60 to ensure plastification and so avoid moisture regain of the wires. These new markets mean that Formuplast is looking at short-term growth of 500% in tonnages of plastisol EB60.
Contact: Denis Pierlay - formuplast@free.fr
Deceuninck – Twinson®
WPVC, all the advantages of PVC without the disadvantages of wood
The «Wood PVC Composite» sold under the Twinson® brand by the Belgian company Deceuninck is a material which combines the properties of PVC with the benefits of natural fibres. This blend of PVC and sawdust or dried hemp provides far superior rigidity than that of pure PVC. In contrast to wood, it doesn’t crack or warp. Rotproof, it doesn’t go green or mouldy. It can be shaped and coloured in an infinite number of ways and is very easy to install and maintain. Wood PVC is environmentally friendly in that it reduces the use of both oil and exotic wood. It can also be expanded, i.e. using less material to obtain a result which is just as promising. Best of all, at the end of its service life, wood PVC can be recycled or incinerated. «Plastic wood» therefore looks set for a promising future. It is available in profiles for balustrades, fences, windows, furniture, cornices, floorboards, garden paths, swimming pool surrounds and pontoons. This very promising material is used both in the construction sector and in the automobile and nautical industry. Whether it be in construction or renovation, anything becomes possible with wood PVC !
Klöckner Pentaplast – Pentapharm®
Exceptional films for exceptional requirements
In response to growing demand from the pharmaceutical packaging sector for films with increasingly effective moisture barrier properties, Klöckner Pentaplast (Germany) developed a brand new multi-layer film structure, the three layer PVC/COC/PVDC barrier film. Compared with coated standard barrier films and co-extruded PP/COC structures, it has a higher water vapour barrier, an optimum transparency and excellent sealing and thermoforming properties on packaging lines. An innovative solution which quickly proved to be the answer the pharmaceutical industry was waiting for. Presented at the 2001 SolVin Award, the new Pentapharm® range of barrier films has since established itself successfully on the market. It has also led onto other equally innovative developments for the high-performance barrier packaging sector, for example such as the PVC/Super Barrier PVDC/PVC blister films. Today, the Pentapharm® range includes no fewer than 18 single-layer or coated and/or laminated barrier film types in total, all suited to specific requirements.
La Viuda - Regilux® and Futurbox®
PVC for the structure, and aluminium for the details
The Regilux® one-piece case with Futurbox® system is a casing for roller shutters developed by the Spanish firm La Viuda de Rafael Estevan Gimenez S.L. It is made entirely of PVC and some or all of the profiles of which it is comprised are coated with a layer of aluminium. Thanks to the finish provided by its coating,it is possible to harmonise the window, casing, frame and shutter ensemble perfectly. First marketed in 2000, this new casing exceeds the requirements of the Technical Building Code (CTE – Spanish legislation) in terms of heat and sound insulation, energy conservation and acoustic comfort in homes. Thanks to its combination of PVC and aluminium, you get better strength and weather resistance, an innovative design and colour stability. Regilux® was nominated for the first SolVin Award for PVC Innovation in 2001.
S.I.F.R.A. EST – Steamflex®
The medical PVC which withstands everything
The Italian firm S.I.F.R.A. EST specialises in producing and processing PVC for pharmaceutical and medical applications. At the 2004 SolVin Award for PVC Innovation, it presented Steamflex®,a flexible tube with the enormous advantage of its ability to be sterilised using high-pressure steam without losing shape. Steamflex® is mainly sold on the Italian market. Even today, no fewer than 500,000 metres of tubes are produced and sold per month. A brilliant innovation which can pride itself on its balanced path!
