Manufacturing of acrylic glass parts
The company K-tec is interested in investigating, at the microscopic and even molecular level, a specific bonding process used in the production of very large glazing parts for institutional aquariums and swimming pools which are very demanding in terms of optical appearance and mechanical strength. A better understanding of relationship between process parameters and part properties will allow to optimize the design and manufacturing processes of their products.
Outcomes
An overview of the mechanical, chemical and morphological effects associated to diverse preparation variables was obtained. In particular, tensile strength and other mechanical analyses at FHS were performed and coupled with X-ray microCT measurements that gave some insights into the homogeneity of the material. Also, chemical differences among the materials, at surface and bulk level, were evaluated using both FTIR and Raman microspectroscopy.
The company
K-tec GmbH is a technology company for the processing of synthetic materials. The core competences are focused on mastering stateof-the-art technologies, for manufacturing synthetic plates and acrylic glass parts. K-tec’s particular specialty is the forming of transparent and semi-transparent synthetics for optically highquality components in one, two and three-dimensional designs and providing the highest industrial standard in thermoforming and vacuum forming techniques for thermoplastics of every thickness and size. K-tec created the world’s largest vacuum thermoformed parts, an area of 13×2 meters, and finished large-scale aquarium with a thickness of 200 mm and weighing more than 15 tons.
Facility: Beamline SISSI, SYRMEP.
Funded Project: InCIMa4.
