Industries
Our rubber bonding and heat protection fabrics are designed for a wide range of industries
Our rubber bonding and heat protection fabrics are designed for a wide range of industries.
Our expertise and experience in rubber bonding applications and heat protection fabrics covers many industries.
Requirements for rubber bonding, including RFL dipped fabrics and peroxide rubber bonded textiles span nearly all manufacturing and engineering sectors, and our experience demonstrates that this provides us with the objectivity to see how developments in one industry can be used in another. This saves our customers time and money.
Our expertise with vermiculite, silica, graphite and weavelocking helps our customers get the right heat protection product that they need. Moreover, our wide experience also allows us to understand the performance characteristics of the products in a broad range of applications, which enables us to circumvent costly experimentation and focus on the critical aspects of your requirement.
Transport & Infrastructure
There are many reinforced rubber parts in road and rail transport. Apart from tires, drive and timing belts use specialist RFL dipped fabrics for high adhesion to mainly neoprene rubber. Hoses are made from polyester and meta-aramid fabrics combined with silicone rubber. Train gangways also use reinforced silicone rubber.
Our range of fire retardant (FR) additives to both RFL and silicone primed fabrics give our customers the opportunity for higher specification fire protection.
Rubber polymers give the durable and flexible characteristics needed in dynamic applications. Because of the movement of each part, the levels of adhesion required are high, and Compotex high performance technology provides the expertise to manufacture fabrics which will perform under the most exacting conditions.
Heat protection fabrics are also widely used in transport and infrastructure design. Our range of silica and graphite dipped glass fabrics cover the requirements for both static and dynamic applications.
Aerospace
The exacting requirements of aerospace are our standard for Compotex dipped fabric for peroxide cured silicone rubber. We have been one of the first companies worldwide to develop manufacturing processes for water based silicone priming. This technology is especially used for sealing applications.
Silicone rubber is the preferred rubber for many aerospace applications because of its high temperature performance and its flexibility. Reinforcing fabrics can be polyester where the parts are not exposed to high temperatures, or glass, silica or ceramic fabrics for high temperature applications. In these high temperature applications the fabric stays in place even when the silicone rubber is degraded. The priming chemistry is a vital part of this technical performance.
We offer two bonding technologies for these parts. The Compotex PS system and priming using the Momentive A174 NT. Each has their advantages, and we work confidentially with aerospace companies to agree the best specification or to develop new specifications.
Defence
Applications in the field of Defence cover a wide range of products that are covered by Compotex. Our advanced manufacturing allows us to process small quantity specialist orders necessary for some Defence applications.
For reinforced rubber parts, we have particular expertise in niche areas with unusual fabrics or rubber compounds. For heat protection, we not only process glass fabrics but also the very high temperature silica fabrics which are often specified in Defence applications.
Compotex is well placed to respond to new product enquiries. Project development progresses at speed thanks to our laboratory and production development capability. Equally important is the way we work with different companies on a confidential basis. Our partnership working with textile, rubber and heat protection manufacturers is central to our business. The success of this approach is the trust we build with our customers. We never compete with our customers and recognise our small but important part of their complex supply chain.
Construction
Heat and fire protection fabrics provide vital safety requirements in the design and maintenance of residential, business and industrial buildings. Every project or part is different. Compotex’s experience along with our versatile and flexible manufacturing means we can always find the optimum solution to your application.
Glass fabrics on their own provide heat protection up to 550˚C. Weavelocking these fabrics to the optimum stiffness and handle means that our customers can easily process and work with the fabric to make their parts.
For a higher temperature rating of 700˚C, silica dipped fabrics are commonly used in static construction applications. They can provide a fire break that holds the spread of fire for a given period.
When it comes to maintenance, our vermiculite fabric is ideal for protecting equipment and people from welding metal and sparks.
For anti-vibration blocks, Compotex RFL dipped nylon fabrics are used in layers with neoprene rubber.
Marine
In the two areas of rubber reinforced parts and heat protection, Compotex offers an extensive range of fabrics for marine applications.
Nitrile and neoprene rubbers are widely used for strong, dynamic and flexible parts that are resistant to sea water and oils. For these high performance marine applications, para-aramid and vectran fabrics are often used in addition to nylon fabrics. Vectran gives even better abrasion resistance which can be important for some extreme marine environments. Our RFL technology is developed for vectran and aramids, giving our customers the opportunity to improve the specifications of their products.
Heat protection and fire resistance is important in marine environments. Our vermiculite, silica and graphite dipped glass and silica fabrics provide high temperature protection. For rubber products, aramid and vectran fabrics are already fire retardant, and we can add FR characteristics to the RFL dips to further improve the fire performance of nylon fabrics.
Market Specific
Our huge experience of rubber bonding and heat protection technologies for nearly all aspects of engineering gives us the edge when it comes to a solution for your application.
Our most important offer to our customers is our commitment to new development and new technologies. Not only are we excited by new ideas and products, but with our advanced manufacturing, we have the machinery to try out new products with our customers.
Compotex brings companies together. We work with textile companies and finished product manufacturers. We are excellently placed to solve new problems, or help to develop market specific products to a successful completion. While we look to work quickly so that our part in the development moves fast, we recognise that new product development can take years. During this time we are always ready to modify or change our development specifications and to do new samples for testing.
“Compotex is one of the small number of RFL specialists in Europe. They are the people I turn to for specialist applications. I appreciate their technical expertise, innovative mindset, promptness in answering, and lastly the quality of the job done.”