The newly founded Plytron GmbH (D-88677 Markdorf; www.plytron.de) has, retroactively from July 1, 2002, acquired the PP composites business of the same name (prepreg based on unidirectional glass fibres and polypropylene) from the major polyolefin player, Borealis (DK-2800 Lyngby; www.borealisgroup.com). The contract covers the know-how, the established brand names and the entire production line, which has already been transferred to Markdorf from the Borealis plant in Linz, Austria. Plytron and Borealis intend to continue working together in the field of marketing.

Shareholders of the new company are the Swiss company Nägeli AG (CH-8594 Güttingen; www.nägeli.ch), located on Lake Constance, and Ulrich Spelz, majority stakeholder of ACM Advanced Composites and Machines GmbH (D-88677 Markdorf, www.acm-fn.de), which is located on the other side of the lake. Both partners have many years of experience in the composites business, with their roots predominantly in aircraft design – as a supplier to e.g. Dornier.

The special impregnating process used in “Plytron” production permits very high quality at favourable cost, claims Plytron. Until now, the material has been used predominantly in the automotive industry for parts such as bumpers, cross-members and other structural parts because of its high stiffness of up to 20,000 MPa. ACM and Nägeli have also recently been successful with a joint development of fatigue-free spring elements for slatted bed frames. Since the beginning of 2001, more than 2 million of these elements have been manufactured.