German specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries AG and automotive engineering company Forward Engineering have established a joint venture to advance the industrial mass production of fiber composite components for the auto industry.
The Essen-based chemicals company announced March 7 that its partnership in Vestaro GmbH, headquartered in Munich, showed Evonik's commitment to developing lightweight materials for the car industry.
“Vestaro is an important step in further expanding our partnership with automobile manufacturers. For many years now, we have been developing products to support their developments in lightweight construction,” said Roberto Vila-Keller, head of the crosslinkers business line at Evonik.
Vestaro, said the Evonik statement, will offer technology consulting as well as select and adapt matrix formulations for efficient manufacturing.
“In the joint venture, we are bundling expertise in engineering and in specialty chemicals. This means that we can offer even better tailored composite-matrix systems,” explained Leif Ickert, general manager of Vestaro.
Evonik is contributing its expertise in amine hardeners, Vestamin for epoxy resin formulations and isocyanate Vestanat for polyurethane formulations, to the material developments of the new company.
Forward Engineering, which was previously the engineering division of Roding Automobile GmbH, will bring its technology in composite construction to the mix.
Vestaro will be managed jointly by Evonik and Forward Engineering, with Evonik holding 49 percent of the shares and Forward Engineering 51 percent.