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In recent years, the features of composite materials and their manufacturing processes have undergone considerable development to obtain structural products and to investigate the sectors and application fields where they can be used. One manufacturing process which gave the best performance results is pultrusion.

Pultrusion

Pultrusion is a continuous process of composite materials reinforced with fibreglass or carbon fibre. Consist in the extrusion of profiles with a constant cross-section which is continuously pulled in a closed mould polymerisation. The pultrusion process produces profiles that sometimes give greater guarantees than those made of steel and stainless steel.

The process is developed in three fundamental steps:

• The reinforcement fibres are carefully positioned in a pre-mould according to the structural requirements of the final pultruded profile;
• The fibres are impregnated in an open tank and then carried to a precision steel mould. The fibres can be impregnated directly in the closed mould using a direct injection system;
• The mould is heated using a computerised system which controls the polymerisation process and monitors the advance speed of the pultruded material;
• The profile comes out of the mould and is ready for cutting.

The reinforcement fibres are arranged longitudinally and are made up of complex roving systems and glass or carbon or Kevlar fibres. They make up about 70% of the profile and determine its tensile and flexural strength.

Pultrusion features and advantages

The pultrusion process guarantees the customisation and the repeatability and perfect reproducibility of each product. Although the manufacturing process is still quite slow, the energy consumption required is lower than that required to produce the same aluminium profiles.

Fiberglass pultruded and carbon profiles are environmentally friendly, resistant to rust and corrosion and once implanted in soils or near groundwater they do not release toxic substances.

If you want to learn more about the features of this working process, contact us and we will lead you to the discovery of pultrusion and pultruded profiles in fiberglass and carbon fibre.

The FIBRA deck system, consisting of interlocking pultruded staves reinforced with glass or carbon fibres, is used in the railway industry for the construction of pedestrian areas of bridges, self-supporting walkways and floors for chemical plants.

What are the advantages?

• Excellent durability over time
• Faster assembly times compared to traditional materials
• Resistance to corrosion and water
• Ultra-lightness
• Easy workability and maintenance-free
• Excellent thermal insulation

We also produce an anti-slip version to improve walking.

We are an Italian company specialised in the design and production of fibreglass thresholds. We also have 5-axis CNC machines capable of handling profiles up to 7 metres long and cutting, trimming and drilling operations.

The window and door industry is increasingly looking for innovative materials that guarantee thermal break and structural capacity, but without sacrificing aesthetics.

Our FIBRA thresholds, manufactured by extrusion process, have the following characteristics:

–      THERMALLY INSULATING
–      MECHANICAL PROPERTIES COMPARABLE TO STEEL
–      TOTALLY MAINTENANCE-FREE
–      100% WATER-RESISTANT
–      HIGHLY RESISTANT TO CORROSION AND SEAWATER
–      LOAD CAPACITY UP TO 1000 KG
–      AVAILABILITY IN DIFFERENT COLOURS

Discover the variety of thresholds we produce here on our website or write us at info@saimex.it

Saimex s.r.l., based in Seregno, in the Italian province of Monza e Brianza, provides consulting, engineering and research services in the pultrusion process field. Not only that but we are constantly involved in technical research and in studying components to test the quality of the pultruded profiles in order to determine their efficiency in given production contexts. This experimental policy is implemented through our association with Italian universities like the Milan Politecnico and the IUAV University in Venice, as well as international universities such as the Shanghai Polytechnic, developing innovative products like the double flange beams.

We have a highly specialised staff of civil engineers, trained to develop fibreglass pultruded profiles, specified down to the smallest detail, with the primary aim of meeting the wide range of needs that characterise the projects of our customers. At the same time, we have implemented a highly structured consulting service. This aims to define and identify the most suitable type of pultruded profiles for the specific industry also on the basis of the tightness and thermal or electrical insulation required. The true professionalism of the Brianza-based company, together with the experience gained over many years has enabled us to assess and meet the demands of a number of different production areas, including the petroleum and building fields as well the transport industry and the manufacture of door & window frames, rainscreens and curtain walls.

In our research facilities, we constantly study the composite materials enriched with glass or carbon fibre and the pultrusion process, in order to define them according to the benefits they bring and to their quality. We continue to pursue our clear mission to proactively improve the production areas that the constituent parts we handle are adopted in. A number of the studies and publications made by our staff concern the applications of our structural pultruded profiles. Days of study are set aside to focus exclusively on these products.

Our distribution network covers Italy and Europe and when we participate in projects in partnership with international organisations, we also extend outside Europe.

The dynamic nature of our team means we can come into contact with physically distant organisations when it comes to experimental activities that often turn into real practical applications. One of the most successful of these is the partnership with AnsaldoBreda for the construction of the Los Angeles metro.

The innovation and experimentation of Saimex s.r.l. in its pultrusion processes and in its fibreglass profiles is a real strong point of the manufacturing methods we have implemented and, at the same time, aims to expand our know-how in that methodology.

Saimex s.r.l. is located in Seregno, the Italian province of Monza e Brianza, and manufactures high and medium strength structural pultruded profiles and bars in composite materials of organic resins reinforced with glass or carbon fibres. This blend of constituent materials provides superior qualities that make for a particularly high-performance product to be used in a number of different production sectors, as an alternative to the traditional models. Our pultrusion process means we can obtain a wide variety of profiles for our extensive catalogue listings, supplemented by custom profiles made to meet the needs of the client. The Brianza-based company also manufactures other parts for use in a wide range of applications and production areas.

Resin sheet piles

The Saimex catalogue of innovative solutions is very extensive and also includes the manufacture of resin sheet piles, which are being widely used to replace traditional sheet piling. These elements are very important in constructions because they are required to guarantee support and containment.

Developed and manufactured to the most innovative design standards, processing of this kind makes it possible to achieve excellent performance and tightness, with the added advantage of being very light, even on contact with water.  At Saimex, we are well aware of the benefits of these constituent materials, which is also why we have entered into a partnership with the IUAV University in Venice to complete a study listing the functional qualities of the pultruded sheet piles in glass fibre, including the fact that our fibreglass sheet piles are up to five times lighter than steel piling.

One advantage of this is a drop in transport costs. Not only that but the composite fibre and carbon materials will not corrode even in contact with water.

The ideal applications for these kinds of sheet piles include the building industry and infrastructures, and our sheet piles are also part of the MOSE flooding protection system in Venice. What’s more, we have developed two different models: Heavy Duty Sheet Piling which can be sunk down to more than 12 metres, and has the same characteristics as steel, and Light Duty Sheet Piling which can be sunk down to 6 metres and replaces wood and PVC piles to create attractive barriers.

 IPE double flange beams

We manufacture fibreglass double flange beams that very effectively develop the characteristics of our structural pultruded profiles.Their double-T shape improves elasticity, making them stable even when placed in torsion and as a result they are particularly suitable for large structures.

These elements can be used for a wide range of different applications, including, in addition to the construction and transport industries, the chemical and physical sector and doors & windows and outside walls, with the proposal of products such as the Isoldeck paving system, gratings, handrails and floorboards, and roof and skirt panels.

Saimex s.r.l. has its registered offices in the municipality of Seregno, the Italian province of Monza e Brianza and specialises in the manufacture of high and medium strength structural pultruded profiles. Components of this kind are now considered to be more ideal and cost-effective than steel and are preferable to steel in certain industrial areas. Specifically, this method is based on a continuous process of manufacturing composite materials reinforced with glass or carbon fibres. It involves the extrusion of constant cross-sectional and complex profiles pulled through a closed die where the resin undergoes polymerisation, to obtain profiles that provide better guarantees than steel and stainless-steel profiles in certain fields of application. Several benefits can be obtained, including customisation and, subsequently, the repeatability and reproducibility of each product.  Moreover, despite the slow machining and manufacturing process, less energy is required for this than to make the same profiles in aluminium.

Many years of experience and specific expertise in the pultrusion process have enabled the Brianza-based company to stand out in terms of the use of cutting-edge structural elements, which offer higher performance and resistance standards than those generally provided by traditional materials. We have a staff of highly competent civil engineers working in our innovative testing facilities who specialise in research into composite materials. They can develop and offer the most innovative solutions aimed at:

• improving the performance of pultruded bars, profiles, sheet piles, IPE double flange beams and the Decksystem Plank panels that we manufacture;
• identifying and testing new composite materials and new fibres;
• exploring the characteristics of the materials and testing their resistance thresholds

Our wide range of proposals has made it possible for us to forge associations and partnerships with transport and public transit companies in Italy and abroad that are looking for products to boost the reliability and safety of their vehicles and trains. This is exactly what our fibreglass pultruded parts provide, with the additional guarantee of electrical insulation. We also work with the building industry for the supply of rainscreen cladding and curtain walls, where the fibreglass pultrusions assure thermal insulation.

In addition to our comprehensive range of products, we have also succeeded in consolidating our position across national borders, establishing ourselves in countries such as the United States through the supply of assembly components to the Los Angeles metro trains.

Still, the Saimex s.r.l mission is also to disseminate the results of our research throughout the academic field.

From the outset, the quality of our solutions triggered the approval of a growing number of customers who approached us because they recognise our professionalism and dedication to the processing methods adopted.