Heading for Medals with ROHACELL®

Monday, 26th  Feb., 2007 

Many star athletes are entering the Biathlon World Championships inAntholz, Italy, with Madshus skis. With this choice, they are placingtheir trust in a high-performance rigid foam manufactured inDarmstadt, Germany. Gunnar Bjaertnes, Head of Development atMadshus, gives an interview on the Degussa product.

Darmstadt/Marl. In early February, South Tirol will be very much under thesway of the biathlon, when the crème de la crème of the increasinglypopular winter sport will meet in Antholz at the world championships.Among the numerous participants are German sportswoman andsportsman of the year and Olympic gold medallists in 2006, Kati Wilhelmand Michael Greis. Biathlon champion Ole Einar Björndalen from Norwaywill also be in at the start. Exceptional as they are, these three athleteshave one thing in common - they place their trust in high-performance skisfrom Norwegian manufacturer Madshus, incorporating a Degussa product,ROHACELL® rigid foam, as the core material. 

The success enjoyed by the three star biathletes at the Turin WinterOlympics in 2006 and at this season's competitions is by no means down tochance, but is the result of tough and disciplined training and the ultimate inequipment. The skis are extremely important in this context, because theymust enable the competitors to move from shooting range to shootingrange quickly and safely. Norwegian manufacturer Madshus has for manyyears been using the rigid polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam core materialROHACELL® as an integral component of its skis.  

According to Gunnar Bjaertnes, Head of Development at Madshus, theproduct from Degussa's High Performance Polymers Business Unit isdistinguished by its outstanding dynamic properties. On top of that, its easeof forming makes for excellent processing, he says. "And we dramatically reduced the weight of the skis using the sandwich core material from 03Darmstadt," Bjaertnes adds.

The extreme strength and rigidity of ROHACELL® foam make it the idealmaterial for lightweight yet hard-wearing skis. Combined with fiberreinforcedcover skins, this provides skis with optimum flexibility anddynamics. The high-performance PMI foam can be durably combined bybonding or compression with all conventional plastics to providecomposites capable of withstanding extreme loads. The material's highheat distortion temperature and excellent creep compression resistancealso offer ski manufacturers very short production times.

In the following interview, Gunnar Bjaertnes, Head of Development atMadshus, comments on the use of the Degussa product ROHACELL®in the Norwegian manufacturer's skis. 

Where exactly does one find ROHACELL® in Madshus skis?

We use this material to make a box construction - foam core inside andfiber reinforcement outside.

Why is the core of Madshus skis made of ROHACELL®?  What are theadvantages for the athletes?

With ROHACELL® we developed top racingskis, the so-called Hypersonic models. Compared to other foam corematerials, we were able to reduce the weight of the skis. PMI foam is easierto shape to the exact core dimensions than honeycomb sandwich corematerials.

What is your experience with ROHACELL® (in training, tests,competitions, etc.)?

Our experience has been very good. We are able tomake skis to very precise specifications. Precise stiffness, camber andpressure distribution are very important in skis.

How did you discover ROHACELL® for applications in Madshus skis? Was it by coincidence?

We have many years of experience withROHACELL®. In the past, some ski producers made sandwich skis withROHACELL®, including Madshus AS. In 1994 we made the first skis with 3-axial box constructions. This created a new opportunity for Madshus AS by 03diversification from the competition. 

As far as future cooperation with Degussa is concerned, are newapplications planned for ROHACELL®?

We are working on newapplications. We have also made many improvements since we started ourcooperation with Degussa.

Degussa - a wholly owned subsidiary of the RAG Group - is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our business is creating essentials - innovative products and system solutions that make indispensable contributions to our customers’ success. In fiscal 2005 around 44,000 employees worldwide generated sales of 11.8 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of 940 million euros.

Degussa has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the early nineties, with wide-ranging trading relations already in place prior to this. The Group now owns more than 19 companies in the country, with production sites in Anqiu, Changchun, Dalian, Jining, Liaoyang, Nanning, Nanping, Qingdao, Rizhao, Shanghai and Yingkou. Its broad product portfolio – comprising precipitated silica, carbon blacks, rubber silanes, amino acids, polyurethane foam additives, coating polyesters, pigment pastes, color tinting systems, high-performance plastics and initiators for plastics manufacture – caters for customers in China and throughout the whole of Asia.