High Density structural glazing tape provides thermal sealing for buildings

Pres-On, a leading supplier of adhesive industrial tapes and gaskets, has introduced a new HD (High Density) structural glazing tape for the cost-effective thermal sealing of storm windows and doors, curtain walls, and other building structures.

Available coated on one or both sides with a specially formulated acrylic adhesive, new SG6600/6700 Series HD structural glazing tapes bond instantly to vinyl, plastics, powder paints, bare metal, and glass, eliminating slippage and wasted production time. The long-lasting adhesive is water- and humidity-resistant, plus has a service temperature range up to 82°C.

The tapes are manufactured from high-strength, high-density open cell urethane tapes that resist fungi and oxidation to preserve the performance as well as the appearance of building structures. Tensile strength is an impressive 400psi, an excellent indicator of its ability to resist stress from stretching or pulling. Tear strength, as measured by the ASTM standard, is an equally impressive 40pli, providing customers with assurance that the tape will resist tearing after a tear has been started by the cutting or nicking of an edge.

Pres-On SG6400 tape is available in 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 or 3/8-inch thicknesses on rolls up to 50 feet in length. Custom widths, lengths and thickness can be ordered, as can die cuts for special applications requiring vibration and sound dampening.

Pres-On is a leading manufacturer of adhesive coating, coated foam tape, mounting substrates, gaskets and cap liners serving customers worldwide in the industrial and consumer markets.

The company is based in Addison, Illinois.

www.preson.com

Levelling the playing field

Commentary
By HERA industry development general manager Nick Inskip

Local industry is well used to contract conditions when tendering, and to the fact that the project owner will typically retain part of the payments due to the vendor as security against the proper completion of the work being undertaken. This is a cost factored into the price that local industry quotes when tendering.

It’s a cost of doing business in the New Zealand market that industry must accommodate and it is equally applied to all local tenders, so it’s usually accepted as fair and in that regard, local suppliers are competing on a level playing field.

Most of the major infrastructure projects in New Zealand are connected in some way to government, which isn’t a surprise since government makes up a large portion of our economy and you wouldn’t expect them to support any process that unfairly discriminated against New Zealand industry as suppliers on projects paid for with public money. However, the increasing trend for procurers to seek the ‘cheapest’ option has seen the development of some bumps in the playing field that would be quickly rolled flat if it was a cricket ground.

The problem comes from the fact that when procuring from offshore suppliers, there is no requirement placed on the foreign company to include the costs of retention monies in their tender price. This immediately gives them a cost advantage that rolls up into the price they quote, helping them undercut local suppliers. It also means that while a local supplier has every incentive not to cut corners and to make every effort to make sure their performance is up to standard so they get the retention monies paid to them, that kind of incentive isn’t there for foreign suppliers who typically require payment before shipping.

It also means that there is little opportunity for redress when a piece of equipment made offshore arrives and is found to be substandard. In fact, where initial price is seen as the major driver of procurement and where there are no perceived consequences, there is also the opportunity for an offshore procurer who realizes that they can trim the price they submit by omitting to do something which may not be readily apparent if inspected before shipment.

An example of this could be that they paint an item of plant in the open rather than in a climate-controlled environment, or only provide one coat instead of two of paint, or even undertake sandblasting to a standard lower than specified. These kinds of practices can reduce their costs and hence the price they submit, and with no consequences such as forfeiting retention monies, there is no incentive against cutting corners.

These risks are widely understood and many governments around the world put in place mechanisms to address them, such as requiring a completion bond from foreign suppliers to projects funded with public money. In practice this has the same effect as retention monies in providing an incentive to ensure corners are not cut and that foreign suppliers are not advantaged over local suppliers.

The issue becomes more complex where a government or government entity appoints a ‘prime contractor’ who does not require a cascading of completion bonds to foreign suppliers. In this case, however, the foreign supplier is immediately advantaged and any pretense of a level playing field disappears. It can be argued that the prime contractor accepts the risk, so there is no risk to government, but that isn’t the point. The point is that by omission of the requirement to cascade completion bonds to foreign suppliers, local industry is immediately discriminated against.

While this is probably not deliberate, it is a reality, as is the risk that with no consequences for a foreign supplier, they will cut corners which might not show up until the item supplied, is a few years old and unlike a local supplier, they have no local reputation at risk.

So we need Government and related entities to act now to flatten out the pitch and make sure the game is fair for local industry.

If you wish to comment on this piece, contact me at 09 262 4750 or email indev [at] hera [dot] org [dot] nz

International textile manufacturer launches lightweight second generation composite

Chomarat is launching TPreg: a continuous pre-impregnated thermoplastic reinforcement material, which was recognised for innovation in the thermoplastics category at the JEC awards in Paris this year.

TPreg is part of Chomarat’s C-PLY™ project Chomarat offers innovative solutions with TPreg, is a range of continuous thermoplastic pre-impregnated reinforcement. It is a light material, offers cost savings in large series production.

The TPreg range of products that complements the current OrganoSheet line, assembly of a continuous reinforcement and a thermoplastic resin. TPreg maintains Thermoplastic composites advantages: speed of conversion processes, little emission of volatile matter, thermoformability and recyclability

“TPreg is a conformable reinforcement that preserves perfect orientation of the fibres. It can be designed with a diversity of materials – carbon fibre, glass fibre and so on – and in different widths. With various impregnation levels in development, the range is suited to various production processes and opens up new technico-economic prospects for the market” says Chomarat R&D manager P Sanial.

“This new range finds applications in numerous sectors such as automotive or sports and leisure.”

Launched in 2011, the C-PLY Bi-Angle™ second-generation composites project under the leadership of Professor Tsai has demonstrated that an optimised design of composites makes it possible to obtain significant savings in weight (up to 30%).

Currently the working group is entering a new phase and is demonstrating that the use of C-PLY in a manufacturing phase with automated laying processes makes it possible to obtain productivity gains never obtained before.

Driven by its core values of creativity and innovation since 1898, CHOMARAT is an international textile group, which operates on four continents. The company is composed of three strategic business units: composites, textiles and fashion, incorporating over 25 different processes and manufacturing technologies.

www.chomarat.com

Printing the graphene way

Using an ink containing tiny graphene flakes, scientists have ink-jet printed graphene patterns that can be used for printing finely detailed, highly conductive electrodes.

Although ink-jet printing has been previously demonstrated, the graphene patterns in the new study are about 250 times more conductive than previous patterns.

The printed graphene ink is also highly tolerant to bending stresses, with the ability to withstand folding with only a slight decrease in conductivity.

The researchers, led by Ethan B Scott from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, have published their study on inkjet-printing grapheme patterns in a recent issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

The researchers explain that inkjet printing is an attractive method of printing electronic components because it is low cost, can print large areas, and can print on flexible substrates, says Phys.org. Researchers have previously used inkjet printing to fabricate components such as transistors, solar cells, LEDs and sensors.

However, printing highly conductive electrodes is still a challenge because of the requirement for very fine resolution.

Recently, researchers have turned to grapheme due to its high conductivity, chemical stability, and intrinsic flexibility compared to other inks.

Masterbond offers two new specialised epoxy gels

Master Bond Super Gel 9 is a urethane modified epoxy gel suitable for a variety of applications, including the encapsulation of sensitive electronic parts and sealing optical components.

This multifunctional gel is widely used in the aerospace, electronic, optical, electro-optical and other specialty industries.

Super Gel 9 has an exceptionally low Shore A hardness of about 5 to 10. This softness allows it to be easily repairable, making it ideal for retrieving components with a sharp knife or razor blade. It will not shatter during this process. These properties also enable Super Gel 9 to withstand rigorous thermal cycling and thermal/mechanical shock.

This product has a 2:1 mix ratio by weight or volume, along with a low viscosity and exotherm enabling it to be cast in larger sections up to 8 to 12mm thick.

Super Gel 9 bonds well to an array of substrates, such as metals, glass, ceramics and many rubbers and plastics. It has a long working life of 7 to 9 hours depending on the mass that is mixed (the smaller the mass, the longer the working life). It resists many chemicals including water, oils and fuels.

The service temperature range is -73°C to 93°C. Super Gel 9 is available in pints, quarts, gallons, five gallon container kits and gun dispensers.

Master Bond UV25

Suitable for high production applications, Master Bond UV25 offers fast fixture times, rapid curing and high-temperature resistance.

This multifunctional one-component UV curable system was developed for bonding, sealing, coating and encapsulation applications. It is widely used in aerospace, fibre-optic, optical, electronic and related industries.

Master Bond UV25’s most notable feature is its thermal stability, with a glass transition temperature of 186°C. It is serviceable over the broad range of -51°C to 260°C. Additionally, this material is optically clear with a refractive index of 1.55 at room temperature.

Upon exposure to a UV light source emitting at a wavelength of 320 to 365 nm with an energy output of 20 to 40 milliwatts per cm UV25 cures in 20 to 30 seconds. The rate of cure also depends upon the compound’s distance from the light source, the thickness of the section and the intensity of the light source. It is not oxygen inhibited and therefore does not require any special treatment in that regard.

The product does not contain any solvents or volatiles and features low shrinkage upon curing. It bonds well to glass, surface treated metals and plastics such as polycarbonates and acrylics, among others.

When being used in potting applications, this system can cure in section up to 0.100 to 0.120 inches. At room temperature, UV25 has a moderate viscosity of 7,000 to 11,000 cps. It is also a competent electrical insulator.

UV25 can be stored for up to 6 months in its original, unopened containers with no exposure to light. It is available in syringes, pint, quart, gallon and 5 gallon containers.

www.masterbond.com

Antares III brings home top superyacht award

The New Zealand-made 30-metre sloop Antares III, built of composite materials has won the major award at the International Superyacht Society Awards, held during Fort Lauderdale Boat Show.

The yacht was also named Best Sailing Superyacht in the 24 to 40m category.

SP-High Modulus, the marine business of Gurit, provided the composite structural engineering solution for the Dixon-designed superyacht, which was built by Yachting Developments.

Yachting Developments CEO Murray Greenhalgh says the company works with a variety of materials, including wood and steel.

“We are currently doing a refit of a steel exploration charter craft,” Mr Greenhalgh says.

He says Antares III faced stiff international competition at Fort Lauderdale, and its quality of build was the determining factor in its win. The super yacht was engineered to meet stringent Germanischer Lloyd and MCA classification requirements.

Due to the use of composites, she weighs 25 to 30 percent less than an aluminium equivalent, with no compromise in strength and stiffness properties. The hull was specified to be an epoxy post-cured sandwich laminate, using an E-glass/carbon/aramid combination skin over a foam core.

SP-High Modulus engineers worked closely with the designer and the yard to enable the challenging build schedule, which allowed just 400 days from start to launch, to be met.

SP-High Modulus is the marine business of Gurit and currently supplies the superyacht market, high-performance custom, production, and work boat sectors. The companies of Gurit Holding AG, Switzerland, are specialised on the development and manufacture of high-end composite materials.

Gurit also supplies growth markets in wind energy, tooling, and transportation.

www.gurit.com/marine
www.yachtingdevelopments.co.nz