Light But Strong - Aluminum Profiles

Thomas Technik is the only provider of radius pultrusion worldwide. The award-winning modified extrusion process allows the continuous production of theoretically infinitely long circular and screw arches from glass, carbon or natural fiber reinforced plastics (GRP, CFRP, NFK) of any radius and pitch up to coil springs. The profiles can be reinforced unidirectionally or with fabrics or braids. Their great advantage is their high strength and low weight.

The areas of application for pultrusion profiles are numerous. They range from automobile and aircraft construction to the construction and mechanical engineering to the sports industry. Used in pipeline construction, for example, they act as an external pipeline reinforcement like a pressure jacket for the line and displace the steel springs previously used for this. Pultrusion profiles also replace steel profiles in the sunroof of automobiles, thus saving 70% in weight.

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The company from Bremervörde not only produces pultrusion profiles itself, but has also been producing pultrusion systems for companies for around two years, which then also produces fiber-reinforced profiles as licensees. The typical pultrusion system is 20 m long and 1 m wide and, depending on the tractive force, can be supplied in two basic system sizes: as a 5 t or 8 t machine.

Thomas Technik manufactures the modular base frame of the pultrusion systems from aluminum heavy-duty profiles. "Our systems are individually adapted to the requirements of the customers. The heavy-duty aluminum profiles allow us the greatest possible flexibility,”explains Sebastian Mehrtens, sales engineer at Thomas Technik. Profiles of size 80 x 160 mm are used in the smaller system. The 160 x 160 mm size is used for the larger machine. The supplier of these profiles is RK Rose + Krieger GmbH from Minden.

Aluminum scores with low weight and high stability

The use of aluminum heavy-duty profiles from the Blocan profile kit from the Minden specialists for linear, profile, assembly and connection technology simplifies assembly considerably compared to conventional solutions. Instead of several small, interconnected aluminum profiles or solid steel structures, a heavy-duty profile is now sufficient to achieve the required rigidity. The aluminum profiles are not only lighter than steel, but also have high bending and torsional stiffness. In addition, the lower installation effort minimizes assembly errors and reduces construction costs.

Another plus is the typical design of the heavy-duty profiles: Various peripheral devices can be attached to the profiles using an 18 mm wide slot and corresponding DIN slot stones. Thomas Technik uses slot nuts, for example, for attaching the linear guides for the two gripper tables and for attaching the control panels of the emergency stop buttons and also for installing the side cover plates. “By inserting the sliding blocks, flexible connection options are created without having to cut them into the profile. That makes assembly a lot easier,”says Sebastian Mehrtens.

Content of the article:

• Page 1: Light but strong - aluminum profiles
• Page 2: Simply assemble without prior processing

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