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With a well-established presence in China since 2006, Gurit has two manufacturing centres producing the structural foams Corecell™, G-PET™ and PVCell™, a tooling facility for the production of large scale plugs and moulds, and numerous sales offices throughout the country. Well-known for its supply to the wind energy and marine sectors, Gurit now offers its innovative composite materials, engineered solutions and finished parts for use across all applications in China, including mass transportation, construction, automotive and many more.
As well as the continual development of innovative products – covering the full spectrum of composite materials, from prepregs to cores, from laminating systems to adhesives – the company also offers structural design and technical services for the development of highly engineered structures, working in close collaboration with its customers to create a complete solution that meets their objectives.
One such project that has benefitted from this solutions’ approach is the “NBfL”, New Bus for London, an initiative to introduce a new range of double-decker buses to the capital city of the United Kingdom. The buses utilise advanced composites to achieve the necessary weight saving, whilst structurally supporting the hybrid drivetrain, meeting aggressive fuel efficiency targets and delivering iconic styling. The manufacturer of the buses, Wrightbus, selected Gurit as its composite expert for the design and supply of the structurally loaded rear-end body panels. Gurit specified SPRINT™ ST 70FR to meet the fire retardant requirements, and worked closely with Wrightbus to ensure the structural design, attachments and assembly methods met the performance requirements. Nine sets of prototype components, made with SPRINT™ ST 70FR and Corecell™ M-Foam, were supplied to Wrightbus by Gurit during late 2011 and early 2012 to show proof of concept. The first of the new buses are now in service in London.
On the company’s stand at China Composites, Gurit will feature full-size composite components used in the London buses. In addition, Gurit’s technical team will present a detailed case study, in Chinese language, as part of the Expo’s Technical Forum series. The presentation will discuss the development of the composite solution, the driving factors behind the structural design, the reasons behind material selection decisions, and how Gurit is successfully delivering a complete composite solution to this iconic project. Please attend the presentation at 11.10am on Thursday 12th September, room W104; or visit stand E29 for more information about the project.
Gurit’s ability to supply proven fire retardant materials for the manufacture of the London buses was one of the key reasons the company was chosen for this project. Gurit has developed a range of materials to meet the most stringent Fire, Smoke & Toxicity (FST) requirements, including structural cores, phenolic and epoxy prepregs, SPRINT™, laminating systems, surfacing films and adhesives. Typical applications for these products include cladding of buildings, interior and exterior train parts, buses, commercial ferries and superyachts. For more information about this product range, please visit Stand E29 to speak to a member of our team, and to pick up a Gurit FST Materials Brochure.
Please Copyright © Wrightbus for the image.
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