Making the world a little better with polymer – SUMTEQ is dedicated to this mission.
Lightweight and efficient, the polymer foam developed by SUMTEQ called Sumfoam enables a major contribution to sustainability. With nanoporous and open-pore structure, Sumfoam forms a new class of materials with many applications. As a carrier material, microcapsule or in insulation: at this year’s K in Düsseldorf, SUMTEQ GmbH will showcase new solutions in industrial applications and present its current projects.
What is special about Sumfoam? Originally developed as a high-performance insulation material, the foam with the tiny pores quickly revealed many other capabilities. With a pore structure 1000 times smaller than that of conventional foams, Sumfoam is in demand as a carrier material, especially in the plastics industry.
The small pores provide a strong capillary effect through which liquids are absorbed and bound like a sponge. In the process, Sumfoam absorbs many times its own weight, making it the ideal carrier for plasticizers and other non-polar liquids.
What this can achieve is demonstrated in a current pilot project that SUMTEQ was able to realize together with the Viersen-based hose manufacturer APD. This makes it possible to recycle mixed rigid and flexible PVC directly at the production site. Plasticizers can be flexibly added as dry liquid in the extrusion process to achieve the desired degree of hardness of the new flexible PVC. Costly external preparation is no longer necessary.
At K, SUMTEQ will be presenting many other applications for Sumfoam in addition to this project. As granules, in the form of flakes or as panels, it ensures optimum insulation results. From building insulation to technical cooling and heating challenges, Sumfoam offers the optimal solution.
And Sumfoam can do even more: together with its Dutch partner AV-Chemistry, SUMTEQ has succeeded in binding fragrances in microcapsules and printing them onto garments. Fine particles in the printing ink ensure a long-lasting fragrance that can be individually recharged again and again.
Innovation, energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint – that’s what SUMTEQ stands for. And rightly so. Even before the start of industrial production in the fall of 2022, the company was able to achieve a major success: SUMTEQ was awarded the Rhineland Business Prize in the “Technology” category.
SUMTEQ will be represented at K in Düsseldorf from October 19-26, 2022 in hall 6, booth number 6D76.
