In addition to glass, SK Scheidel Kunststoffe-Glas GmbH has been a provider of their own self-developed plastics for over 30 years. Recently, owner Eberhard Scheidel has also begun to market laminated glasses using liquid laminates produced by the company.
On top of plastics and glass, Eberhard Scheidel had for a long time been wanting to offer his customers from industry, mechanical engineering and the construction sector, a breaking-resistant and bullet-proof composite made from both materials. So far, a flat or shaped standard polycarbonate has been supplied for such applications. "We wanted to combine the advantages of glass and plastic in order to bring a transparent composite with optimal properties onto the market," says the company owner.
However, Scheidel had high demands on the product quality and did not find any satisfactory products even after several attempts. Then he came into contact with H.B. Fuller | Kömmerling. The adhesive and sealant manufacturer is a specialist in liquid composites, and so they dispatched a small mixing and dosing system to Scheidel and even sent a technician along on a temporary basis during the test phase.
Fast implementation in practice
Scheidel's employees were able to produce optically perfect composite materials made of plastic and glass relatively quickly with intermediate layers of cast resin. After that, the decision for a new investment was quickly made. Since the end of 2019, Scheidel has had one of the largest and most modern mixing and dosing systems for 2K casting resin. The system has four tanks, which allows a product change within a few minutes. This enables the company to flexibly manufacture a composite made of polycarbonate and glass as well as an alternative made of pure glass.
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"With this investment, we would like to develop another business area," emphasizes Eberhard Scheidel. "Scheidel Glastec will manufacture plastic/glass and plastic/plastic composite systems with other applications, such as switchable glass, functional glass and high-security glass."
Laminated glass with liquid composites
In contrast to foils, which are used as an intermediate layer in laminated glass, once hardened, liquid composites form a chemical bond to the glass surface. In addition, the material itself forms a three-dimensionally networked composite, which is characterized by high structural stability even with strong temperature fluctuations and does not splinter even under extreme loads.
The liquid composite remains flexible after the curing process. Thanks to the flexible intermediate layer, the composite does not bend even under extreme temperature loads, even though polycarbonate and glass have different expansion coefficients.
Wolfram Scheible / HB Fuller
The material composite is significantly lighter in comparison to conventional bulletproof glass and has thinner package thicknesses, which brings advantages for the construction industry, especially in facade, window and door construction.
Ködistruct LG is used for glass on glass. This material was specially developed for structurally more demanding applications such as cold-bent laminated glass and overhead glazing. Another advantage: The manufacturer has calculated and simulated the material behaviour for different load scenarios for Ködistruct LG.
Ready for the future
The processor is confident: "Almost all test certificates for our composite materials have already been created, so the market launch is within reach", and adds: "The cooperation with H.B. Fuller | Kömmerling is very effective. Their support in product development and the advice were and are very helpful."
In the long term, Eberhard Scheidel wants to convert this new business segment into an own company.
