Bouvet Launches Reinforced PVC Window System

French window profile producer Bouvet is using a new fibre reinforced PVC extrusion technology developed together with Owens Corning Fibreglass to manufacture its Twinea high performance profile range.

Twinea profiles are produced by a specially-developed pull-extrusion technique using Twintex co-mingled glass and PET copolyester fibres from Owens Corning Fibreglass.

Bouvet put the Twinea system into production in March this year. It said the technology eliminates the need for steel reinforcement beams in its designs, enabling it to offer users high strength profiles in narrower widths than previously achievable.

The company claimed to be able to halve the width of a sliding window central column using Twinea profiles - down from 90mm to 45mm. Side frames can be slimmed down from 110mm to 76mm.

The reduction in profile width still results in an energy efficient design. With a Uw thermal conductivity value of 1.6 W/m2/K the Twinea profile provides a 30% improvement over aluminium.
Owens Corning Fibreglass new business development manager Virginie Lartisien declined to reveal to PRW.com the precise details of the manufacturing process. However Lartisien said that the low melting point of the copolyester fibre ensured high adhesion of the reinforcement to the PVC resin.

Bouvet, which is located at La Membrolle sur Longuenée close to the French city of Angers, is a major manufacturer of PVC and aluminium window profiles. It consumes 7,000 tpa of PVC resins and 10,000 tpa of aluminium.

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