ContiTech working on making diving suits safer

On the one hand, the material needs to be absolutely water- and media-proof, thus providing reliable protection against chemicals and harmful substances even in contaminated waters. On the other, it needs to be light and flexible, and allow the wearer optimum freedom of movement coupled with best possible protection against the cold.

“Based on our know-how and many years of experience, we want to develop further areas of application for our protective clothing materials and for this reason, we are now venturing into the water,” Rodrigo Maia, head of the Coated Fabrics segment at ContiTech Elastomer Coatings, announces at the TechTextil trade fair.

ContiTech Elastomer Coatings is an exhibitor at the trade fair as an expert development partner for coated fabrics. In hall 3.0, booth B43, the company will be demonstrating how versatile the field of application for coated fabrics is.

Also in development is a new hybrid material made of elastomers and thermoplastics, which optimally combines the characteristics of the two materials. The elastomer content makes the material extremely airtight, in other words, allows little permeation and diffusion, and is also electrically conductive and chemically resistant to acids, lyes, fuels, oils and other media.

In addition, the material needs to be pressure- and temperature-resistant, and be available in attractive finishes and colors. Thermoplastic materials should ensure that the material can be fused – an advantage for the further processing of the material.

“The areas of application for both materials are absolutely versatile, yet our materials expertise and modern process technology allow us to offer our customers tailor-made solutions for their quite individual requirements,” segment head Rodrigo Maia emphasizes. “Since we cooperate closely with our customers’ development and design departments, we are familiar with their specific requirements and can match our products perfectly to them.”

This is possible thanks to the wide selection of materials the company has at its disposal: More than 300 elastomer coating materials – including special elastomers for extreme application requirements – and more than 100 textiles with a wide range of different properties and material strengths can be combined for almost any application – from coated fabric for protective suits or life raft materials through to customized solutions for completely new areas of application.

Alongside coated fabrics, ContiTech Elastomer Coatings also produces printing blankets, industrial products and elastomer sheeting as well as containers for industrial partners all over the world. The business unit has sites in Germany, China, Japan, Russia, Singapore and the USA and reported sales of around €110 million in 2012. It has a workforce of around 600.

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