Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 23, 2008 02:00 AM

New methods shore up window profiles

David Vink
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    PVC window frames exceed user demands in many respects, especially in cost and durability, but the relatively low stiffness and rigidity has proved to be a drawback.

    Frame producers often have had to reinforce profiles for large windows, which typically has involved adding internal reinforcing bars - though producers also have experimented recently with bonding profiles to the frames to create ``structural'' windows.

    However, window makers continue to explore alternatives, with the goals of reducing cost and opening the way to more demanding commercial applications.

    Middelfart, Denmark-based pultrusion specialist Fiberline Composites A/S introduced its first translucent, pultruded fiberglass window profile in 2006. Since then, development has accelerated, with several new options launched this year.

    A pultruded profile made by Comfort Line Inc., based in Toledo, Ohio, gained an innovation award in March from the European Pultrusion Technology Association in Rome for its introduction of a 65 percent glass-fiber-reinforced polyester window profile.

    Comfort Line said the reinforcement system, supplied by Toledo-based Owens Corning, consists of a weft-fiber textile stitched to a random mat. The mat is impregnated with a low-profile polyester resin applied by preform injection as opposed to the more common open-bath or dip-tank techniques.

    Bayer MaterialScience AG recently displayed a fiberglass-reinforced, pultruded polyurethane window profile system made using a new BayDur Pul 2500 PU resin developed specifically for pultrusion.

    Inline Fiberglass Ltd. of Toronto is using the technology to make profiles used by Alpen Fiberglass Windows of Boulder, Colo., among others. According to Alpen, fiberglass is the fastest-growing window sash and frame material in North America.

    Inline Fiberglass founder and chief engineer Stanley Rokicki said: ``The fact that we now have the capability to produce lighter profiles that are strong enough to be used in large frames, even curtain walls, is extremely exciting for us.''

    The PU pultrusion process allows the use of high glass-fiber content, making the profile eight time stronger than PVC frames, BMS claimed. It also offers 40 times lower thermal conductivity than aluminum, the firm said.

    But PVC producers are responding to the potential challenge from fiberglass and PU.

    In April at the JEC 2008 composites fair in Paris, Owens Corning's Christophe Ducret and Virginie Lartisien, application center manager and new business development manager respectively at OCV Reinforcements, described a new thermoplastic pull extrusion system for producing pultruded glass-reinforced PVC profiles.

    The system is based on Twintex commingled glass and PET copolyester fibers. French PVC and aluminum profile producer Bouvet SA, which consumes 15 million pounds of PVC and 22 million pounds of aluminum annually, introduced the profiles to the market in March.

    Bouvet, in La Membrolle-sur-Longuenee, France, said the technology has eliminated the need for steel reinforcement in its designs and enables straight, rigid and totally insulated profiles to be made in thin designs.

    Bouvet has halved the width of a sliding window's central column from 3.6 inches to 1.8 inches and reduced side frames from 4.3 inches to 3 inches. Even then, the thermal conductivity value is 30 percent less than for a slim aluminum design, according to the company.

    OCV's Lartisien was careful not to disclose details of the pull extrusion process, but said the copolyester fiber has a low melting temperature and high adhesion to PVC.

    PVC also figures in the Geneo window profile announced recently by Rehau, Germany-based window profile producer Rehau AG + Co. Geneo profiles are made in ``Rau-Fipro'' material, which is a glass-fiber-reinforced PVC compound developed by Rehau and processed at its Wittmund, Germany, plant in a standard extrusion process with pultrusion.

    According to Rehau, high rigidity of the multichamber profiles allows steel reinforcement elements to be eliminated in 80-90 percent of applications. That reduction cuts the cost and weight of the system, easing transport and handling, Rehau said.

    There is also less exposure to continually rising steel prices, the company noted.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Hillenbrand cites recycling as 'strategic growth' area with Herbold acquisition
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Hillenbrand cites recycling as 'strategic growth' area with Herbold acquisition
    2
    Eastman Chemical looking to build another major plastics recycling facility
    3
    California passes strictest plastics law in US, with EPR and recycling targets
    4
    Congress debates pause on plastics growth, ‘disposable communities'
    5
    Newell closing Coleman plastics plant in Texas
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
        • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified