Zurich - July 27, 2007 – Innovative materials and applications will feature heavily on the Quadrant stand at K 2007 (Hall 6 – Booth E23), with several new products making their public debuts. The Zurich-based Quadrant Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-performance semi-finished and finished polymer products with locations in 18 countries. Three of its operations will be represented:
Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products, the world's leading manufacturer of semi-finished products made from general engineering and high-performance plastics for machining;
Quadrant Plastic Composites, the world's leading manufacturer of glass mat thermoplastics (GMT);
Quadrant Creative Moulding & Systems,a leading European integrated injection moulder.
New products and technologies that the company is unveiling include:
Symalit PVDF Architectural Films, intended for use as translucent membranes in textile architecture;
innovative rigid machinable sheet made from glass-mat reinforced thermoplastic (GMT) that challenges much more expensive high performance thermoplastics, thermoset composites and even metals, in a range of demanding applications;
a new grade in the company’s Fluorosint range of very high performance PTFE-based highly filled compounds that can operate in extreme environments at temperatures anywhere from - 240°C to +260°C;
a new polyimide semi-finished product series, aimed at demanding applications that call on the polymer’s outstanding combination of high temperature resistance, mechanical performance and chemical resistance;
a new technology to bond a thin strip of PTFE with a thermoplastic carrier in a single step overmoulding process, yielding strong parts with a low-friction, chemical resistant surface.
Quadrant frequently works with its customers on the development of new applications, not only tailoring its materials for specific purposes, but also providing back-up in the form of design analysis and prototype testing. This sort of service has helped it gain business across a variety of markets. Latest examples of these to be featured at K 2007 include:
a new glass-reinforced impact-modified nylon 6 passenger airbag housing, for use in vehicles based on the Volkswagen Golf platform, that is just under half the weight of the original metal counterpart and provides considerable cost-of-manufacture savings;
front-end module elements for a luxury coupé from Mercedes Benz that benefit from the important weight savings, crash performance, high thermal stability and corrosion resistance possible with Quadrant Plastic Composites’ GMTex fabric-reinforced thermoplastic composite;
a ground-breaking use in building and construction formwork of sandwich panels of SymaLITE a very light composite of polypropylene (PP) and glass fibres, between two skin layers of GMTex high performance glass reinforced thermoplastic (GMT);
railway rolling-stock buffers and draft gears that incorporate spring pads formed from thermoplastic elastomer rods and tubes;
cladding in low-friction ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene that has solved movement problems on package transport chutes at a global package delivery company’s sorting operations;
a high-performance composite underbody shield for a Mercedes Benz luxury SUV that not only protects it from stones thrown up during travel over the roughest of terrains, but also helps the vehicle achieve the lowest wind resistance of any off-roader.
Reader enquiries
Quadrant
Talstrasse 70
CH-8001 Zurich
Switzerland
+41 (0)44 213 66 66
info@qplas.com
www.quadrantplastics.com
Notes for editors
About the Quadrant group
Quadrant, a global leader in high-performance polymer materials in the form of semi-finished and finished products with locations in 18 countries, generates annual sales of over CHF 800 million. The specialty engineering thermoplastics and composites manufactured and marketed by more than 2’400 employees worldwide are superior in performance to metals and other materials and are used in a growing number of applications, primarily in the capital goods industry. Together with leaders in a wide range of customer markets, Quadrant is continuously developing new areas of application. Thanks to its clear strategic orientation and focus, Quadrant has generated substantial added value for customers and shareholders since it was established in 1996 and is well prepared to continue expanding its market leadership in future.