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Home » News » Economy / Markets » RATH Presents ALTRA FLEX®, the 1st European Oxide Ceramic Continuous Fiber

RATH Presents ALTRA FLEX®, the 1st European Oxide Ceramic Continuous Fiber

Building on decades of experience with premium refractory products, RATH has developed an oxide ceramic continuous fiber that surpasses expectations: ALTRA FLEX®, available in three grades, enhances the company’s portfolio of innovative, future-ready solutions.

RATH has been developing oxide ceramic continuous fibers for several years. Production of ALTRA FLEX® in M75, MK85 und K99 grades recently began at RATH’s facility in Mönchengladbach, Germany. This positions RATH as the first European manufacturer to offer tailored solutions for both composite manufacturers and processors of temperature-resistant fabrics.

ALTRA FLEX® is outstanding in the industry and maintains both strength and flexibility up to 1200 oC. Other advantages include high thermal shock resistance, elevated creep resistance, excellent dimensional stability and low thermal conductivity. These properties, especially the retention of flexibility in extreme temperature ranges, open up many possibilities. The roving is ideal for fabrics, composites, weaving, braiding and more. This makes it a future-oriented material in many industries and fields of application.

Important raw material for the production of oxide ceramic matrix composites
Oxide ceramic continuous fiber is widely used, especially as reinforcing fibers in various matrices (CMC, MMC). Due to its high tensile strength and stiffness as well as its excellent chemical and thermal resistance, continuous fiber can, for example, provide ceramic matrices with quasi-ductile, damage-tolerant fracture behavior. This continuous fiber is an important raw material for the production of oxide ceramic matrix composites.

An annual production of up to 10 tons of ALTRA FLEX® is planned
The fiber, produced using the sol-gel process with a dry spinning technique, has a pure mullite or corundum microstructure after its thermal treatment, while in the MK85 grade, both phases are present in parallel. To date, RATH has developed the mullite fiber M75 (with an elevated creep resistance as well as a tensile strength of up to 1,500 MPa and a modulus of elasticity of 200 GPa), the mullite-corundum fiber MK85 (with a tensile strength of up to 1,900 MPa and a modulus of elasticity of 230 GPa) and the corundum fiber K99 (with a tensile strength of up to 2,500 MPa and a modulus of elasticity of 350 GPa). Initially, up to 10 tons of ALTRA FLEX® oxide ceramic continuous fiber are to be produced annually in the production plant in Mönchengladbach. ALTRA FLEX® is manufactured at the RATH plant in Mönchengladbach (Germany) under the strictest quality controls and is constantly tested in the RATH laboratory and by third parties.

ALTRA FLEX® is a product of RATH Research and Development and was created as part of the HORIZON EUROPE project InVECOF (Innovative Value Chains for European Ceramic Oxide Fibers).  More information:

www.rath-group.com/altraflex


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