Did you know that fiberglass can be used in this way?
Plastics company BASF has developed a heavy-duty composite shelf frame in collaboration with Spanish furniture designers.
Sustainable furniture is a growing business sector with great potential. Customers and companies around the world are looking for products that have a low impact on the home or work environment. Here, as in other industries, the focus is on reducing the carbon footprint, durability and recyclability.
Reduced carbon footprint
In response to the challenge of global climate change, the company can significantly reduce its carbon footprint (CO2 footprint) by switching from raw wood and iron to high-performance plastics, which reduces processing energy emissions.
Sustainable design
High-performance plastics have huge advantages in this area: they combine strength and durability with low weight and can be used in many ways.
Expandable and interchangeable
In collaboration with award-winning Spanish designer Inma bermúdez, BASF has developed a modular shelf concept made of wood and fiberglass reinforced thermoplastics. All plastic elements are expandable and interchangeable, and each shelf can carry up to 100 kilograms. In series production, the product can be made from renewable raw materials to replace current fossil-based raw materials. Sustainable design enables efficient production processes with minimal use of raw materials, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of the product. By using materials that can be reused, repaired and easily recycled, a truly sustainable product is created.
Fiberglass composites are playing an increasingly important role today. For example, in terms of lightweighting, products made from this material can be 1 time lighter than iron products. They are also corrosion resistant. Generally, corrosion is evenly distributed over the entire inner and outer surfaces of the metal, causing the cross-section to continue to decrease, ultimately destroying the load-bearing parts. In addition, the common surface treatments for steel, especially sheet metal: adding chromium will make the surface very bright, and it is generally used as a coating for exposed metal parts, which is very beautiful. Adding nickel is corrosion-resistant and is used with chromium. Zinc is generally added in percentages, and there are Fel/Zn8 zinc coatings and Fe/ZnFe(2)8 zinc-iron coatings. You can choose to passivate Disp after plating. Avoid hexavalent chromium electrophoretic paint, E-Coat, which is relatively cheap and has good corrosion resistance. If there are defects, it is easy to fall off in pieces after wear. Blackening, soaking in blackening liquid, this method is the simplest, cheapest, and has the worst anti-corrosion effect. Dacromet, expensive, complex process, and very good anti-corrosion performance. Delta seal (+ Delta Tone), expensive, complex process, and very good anti-corrosion performance. Dacromet is often used as a substitute in China. If the requirements are lowered, galvanizing is often used.
Creative Center
Bermúdez and her partner Moritz Krefter drew inspiration for the design of the Otto shelf from architecture, especially bridge construction, and received help from the BASF Creative Center team in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The Creative Center is composed of industrial designers, materials and simulation experts. To achieve this goal, simulation, material experts and 3D printing work closely together. This is how everything about OTTO can be integrated: functionality, sustainability and design.
