January 18, 2024 Pultruded Composites’: From factory to Full Systems

Techno Composites & Exel’s 27-year collaboration revolutionizes transport with lightweight, efficient, fire-retardant profiles.

German company Techno Composites supplies fully designed systems for its customers’ specific requirements using high-quality fiber composite components. Its solutions are based on glass-reinforced plastic and carbon-reinforced plastic and serve key industries such transportation, energy, construction, and infrastructure. To deliver high-quality cost-effective systems for customers, Techno Composites has partnered with Exel Composites who provides the pultruded composite profiles that are incorporated into Techno Composites final systems.

Techno Composites supplies fully assembled systems that are tailor made to suit each customer’s specific requirements. The whole system can involve different types of materials, including composites, aluminum casted parts, metal brackets, and RTM vacuum-infused parts.

“At Techno Composites, our goal is to make innovative fully-engineered solutions that help solve customers’ challenges using fiber-reinforced plastics,” explained Gerrit Mann, managing director at Techno Composites. “We have a reputation for creativity, quality, and reliability, which is based on over 25 years of meeting our customers’ needs and supplying systems that deliver genuine value.”

“We design the whole system in the development phase without locking ourselves into specific materials or manufacturing processes for each individual component. Our sole priority is designing the right system for the customer’s exact needs taking different raw materials into account,” explained Jan Lügering, Product Engineer at Techno Composites. “Once we have a full system concept, we source the most suitable materials to bring it to life.”

It was clear to Techno Composites that the best way to deliver final systems that were consistent, cost-effective, and delivered on all their customers’ requirements was to use pultruded profiles in its designs, so it engaged pultrusion-specialist Exel Composites to deliver these on an ongoing basis.

Pultrusion is a continuous manufacturing process resulting in a steady output of a composite profile that is cut to length at the end of the process. The process begins by pulling continuous reinforcements through a resin bath to wet out the fibers. The impregnated reinforcement is passed through preforming guides to align the reinforcement before entering the heated die where the composite is created.

The fully cured section is cut to length, or, if size and shape permit, be wound onto a drum as a continuous length. The only limitations on length for cut sections of pultruded profiles are storage and transportation.

“We can take standard profiles, like boxes, tubes, and angles, and combine these to produce tailor-made constructions for clients. For example, walkways and ladders that are made using fiber glass profiles,” continued  Lügering. “Alternatively, we can also use non-standardized customized profiles that are specially created for a system. For example, in bus and train applications, we can use pultruded profiles for many things, including side sealings, roof inner-linings, airducts, and channels.

“Pultrusion is a good way to create profiles for train and bus applications as they are very straight. Most profiles in this business are made specially for the customers. We need less density, light weight, high stiffness, and excellent fire retardants properties,” continued Lügering.

“The pultruded profiles that we supply to Techno Composites for their transportation applications are ideal for customers as they meet all the mechanical properties needs while also being lightweight, meaning that energy efficiency is improved compared to buses and trains manufactured using steel or aluminum panels,” explained Olli Tevä, SVP Sales & Marketing at Exel Composites.

“We have worked with Exel for about 27 years and very often we use its pultruded profiles as they are very customizable, able to be produced in complex geometries, and demonstrate excellent fire retardant properties,” concluded Lügering.

Headquartered in Finland and with composite production facilities around the world, Exel Composites combines a local manufacturing footprint with the expertise of a global company to ensure efficient sales support and technical consultancy is always in reach. It has worked with customers in over 50 countries and can draw on this experience to help engineer a custom composite solution that meets all your business’ operational challenges and delivers long term results.

To find out more about the benefits of the pultrusion process, visit https://exel.pub/3TXF8vR or watch our video case study at https://exel.pub/4233zu6.

For further information contact: Exel Composites PLC, Group Management Office, Mäkituvantie 5, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland

Telephone: +358 20 754 1350
www: https://www.exelcomposites.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exel-composites/

Press enquiries: Patrick Ball or Greg Coppack – Stone Junction Ltd
1 St Mary’s Place, St Mary’s Grove, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST16 2AR

Telephone: +44 (0) 1785 225416
e-mail: patrick@stonejunction.co.uk or greg@stonejunction.co.uk
www: www.wechangeminds.com
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stone-junction-ltd

About Exel Composites
At Exel Composites, we use over 60 years’ experience to solve challenges and help customers save resources. Our forward-thinking composite solutions made with continuous manufacturing technologies serve customers in a wide range of industries around the world. You can find our products used in applications from wind power and transportation to building and infrastructure.   

Our collaborative approach and global footprint set us apart from our competition. We use our expertise to help customers reduce weight, improve performance and energy efficiency and decrease total lifetime costs. We want to be the first choice for sustainable composite solutions globally.  

Headquartered in Finland, Exel Composites employs approximately 650 forward-thinking professionals around the world and is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. To find out more about our offering and company please visit exelcomposites.com.

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