WINDOW PROFILES | PROCESSING Profile building
Demand for plastic window profiles is growing, thanks in part to new technologies such as PBT co-extrusion and new foam sealants – as well as an established network to recycle the profiles. Lou Reade reports
PVC profiles have continued to take market share away from more traditional materials like wood and aluminium – and this continues to accelerate. Ed Hudson, director of marketing research at US-based Home Innovation Research Labs, told delegates at the recent Profiles conference in the USA that PVC continues to dominate the North American window profile market. According to a study the company conducted
recently, around 55 million windows are fitted in the US every year – of which nearly 30m are made from PVC. PVC now accounts for more than 60% of windows in new homes, having risen from a share of just under 50% in 2005. In the same time, both wood and aluminium have declined from 25% – to around 20% and 10% respectively. For repair, replacement and remodelling, PVC’s share has declined slightly over the same period – from nearly 60% to around 50%. In that time, however, the big winner has been composites – which rose from around 8% to 18% of the market.
Film critical While Renolit is a producer of plastic films, it said that its products are important in allowing greater aesthetics and performance in window profiles. Marc Schweiger, exterior product manager for
www.pipeandprofile.com
the USA and Canada at the company, told del- egates that surface-applied films allow window manufacturers to incorporate colours and textures into their products. “Europe has used colours and woodgrains in window components for decades,” he said. “North America is quickly ramping up the use of exterior window colour.” One emerging colour trend is for darker colours – but this has an associated risk due to heat build up. A way round this is to use reflective pigments that prevent excessive absorption of thermal energy.
Stiff competition BASF has used its design expertise to banish metal stiffeners from window profiles – replacing them with its Ultradur PBT material. In traditional designs, a PVC window frame is
extruded, and a metal stiffener is inserted into the structure. The new design dispenses with the metal, and instead has sections that are co-extrusions of PVC and PBT. This arrangement improves both mechanical
strength and thermal insulation while lowering production costs according to William McMaster, application development engineer at BASF in the USA.
Main image: Teknor Apex says its TPV compounds are an effective alternative to thermoset polyurethane foams in window seals
� September 2018 | PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION 21
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