#139 The future of construction is taking shape: Composites Lounge interview with Owens Corning
30.08.2024 8 min Staffel 5 Episode 96
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
At JEC World 2024 in Paris, the future of construction is taking shape, and it's more exciting than ever!
The conversation around innovative solutions like Owens Corning's Pink Bar and CG TEC GmbH I Carbonscout Onlineshop's TEC BAR is not just about materials; it's about revolutionizing the industry.
The Pink Bar, four times lighter than steel and incredibly durable, is ready to make waves in the European market.
With its sustainable design, it offers not only environmental benefits but also efficiency in production and application.
As we discussed, the potential for these advanced rebars is vast, especially in sectors like offshore construction where corrosion resistance is crucial. đ
Paolo Casadei, Jens Boelke and Oliver Kipf shared insights on the importance of adapting codes and design guides in Europe to embrace these innovations.
The U.S. market is already seeing a shift, with FRP rebars gaining traction in various applications.
Itâs time for Europe to catch up! The industry must collaborate to ensure that sustainable practices become the norm, not the exception. đÂ
We believe that with ongoing innovation and a commitment to sustainability, we can redefine the future of construction materials.
Let's not shy away from competition; instead, let's embrace the opportunities ahead.
Together, we can pave the way for a more sustainable and efficient construction industry.
Join the conversation and explore the possibilities with us!
What are your thoughts on the future of rebars in construction?
The conversation around innovative solutions like Owens Corning's Pink Bar and CG TEC GmbH I Carbonscout Onlineshop's TEC BAR is not just about materials; it's about revolutionizing the industry.
The Pink Bar, four times lighter than steel and incredibly durable, is ready to make waves in the European market.
With its sustainable design, it offers not only environmental benefits but also efficiency in production and application.
As we discussed, the potential for these advanced rebars is vast, especially in sectors like offshore construction where corrosion resistance is crucial. đ
Paolo Casadei, Jens Boelke and Oliver Kipf shared insights on the importance of adapting codes and design guides in Europe to embrace these innovations.
The U.S. market is already seeing a shift, with FRP rebars gaining traction in various applications.
Itâs time for Europe to catch up! The industry must collaborate to ensure that sustainable practices become the norm, not the exception. đÂ
We believe that with ongoing innovation and a commitment to sustainability, we can redefine the future of construction materials.
Let's not shy away from competition; instead, let's embrace the opportunities ahead.
Together, we can pave the way for a more sustainable and efficient construction industry.
Join the conversation and explore the possibilities with us!
What are your thoughts on the future of rebars in construction?
Transkript
Hello. We are here at the JEC World
in Paris, and on my right side
is Jens Boelke from Owens Corning.
On my left side
is a pink specialist Paolo
from Owens Corning.
Nice to meet you, Oliver. Good morning.
-Good morning everybody.
And we are here at the booth from CG TEC.
Our main point today
is Rebars for construction.
And Paolo is really an expert
with a long experience.
Owens Corning.
Yes. We are here to present
a new bar for concrete construction.
This is really innovative,
because it's four times
lighter than steel and sustainable.
It's more durable. It makes concrete much,
much longer lasting.
And this product is still on the market
or in development.
It's already in use in the US.
We are taking it to Europe,
but for Europe we need CE marking
so that it's going
to take a few months longer,
but we are ready
to take it over to the ground.
-Okay, tell me,
what is the advantage from your product?
Because we are also
a producer from rebars.
We called it TEC BAR.
And your bar is called Pink Bar.
That is really great.
Tell me, what is the advantage
from your Pink Bar?
Well, I think that
one of the biggest advantages,
the bigger production that we can deliver.
So the speed of production
and also the multi-die technology
that allows us really
to bring a lot of quantity to the market.
-Wow, that sounds really good.
But what is your job
in the rebar construction field?
No, I'm related to Paolo.
And since he's joined Owens Corning
and I'm in the field of wind actually.
Okay. But for wind, we have right
now a new market
coming up for floating offshore.
Floating offshore means as well floating
offshore concrete platforms.
And for I think in offshore,
it makes a lot of sense to not use steel.
Okay. Instead of steel,
we would want to use glass fibers
to reinforce but as well
to have no corrosion anymore.
And that is where I come in
and work with Paolo.
Sounds good.
-Paolo. one main question.
If you look in the future.
What do you think?
What's happened in five years
with rebar in US market?
And maybe also if you speak
about the German market.
I think what is happening
in the United States is right now,
rebars are taking a little portion
of the steel market,
because of their lightness and durability.
And so all construction happening
on bridges and on coastal areas
are taking off with GFRP Rebars.
So it's a very promising market
also for us in Europe.
I think the big advantages
is code and design guides
that are available in the United States.
That's something
that we're still lacking in Europe
and that's something
that we need to take the pace of Canada,
and the United States.
Really to be able to take this technology
where it deserves.
So that's what we need to do
as an industry in Europe,
to really look at the opportunity
of making code
sustainable in terms of design.
Right now we are too conservative.
So you guys are making it difficult
in Germany.
But we need to make codes
less conservative.
We should not be aware of competitors.
The market is big enough
for everybody to play more than once.
What we can actually manufacture today.
I'm completely with you.
And we are focused also more
on the European market.
And you're completely right.
The German market is very, very difficult.
And we have also developed the
last ten years.
The TEC BAR starts with four millimeter
until 12 millimeter.
Tell me what dimension can you realise
with a pink bar?
-We can go from six millimeter up to 32mm.
This version is lacquered and is lacquered
because we are bringing it
to the everyday Home Depot,
Leroy Merlin market.
But obviously we have the bigger bars,
non-lacquered
that are for people using gloves.
And the reason why you make it this way
is because, as you can see,
there is no glass sticking in our hands.
But I think really the opportunity
that we have in Europe
between the offshore
that Jens was talking about
and all the other markets are tremendous.
-Okay.
You told me that it's lacquered. This is a bar without lacquered.
Tell me, what is advantage
from the lack in the rebar?
Only the splitting or more?
Only the splitting.
And it gives some extra durability,
but really it's just
a splitting of the fibers.
Okay.
-Really good.
And what kind of applications
do you have in your mind in the future?
I think right now let's upgrade.
We still, as an industry
have a limitation on the bend bars.
So where bend
is our bottleneck currently.
So we're looking more at application
where we can use the rebar straight simply
because, bend bars
are taking much longer to produce.
And that's where as an industry overall,
we need to improve our technology.
That's where it's the secret
to make GFRP bars successful.
-Oh, that's really cool.
What is your opinion?
-I mean, he was talking about bend bars.
I think for bend bars we are right now.
It's innovation, right?
It's requiring innovation
to have these being capable
of making kilotons of these.
You know, it's a commodity business
for sure. And at the same time
for sure I don't know,
did we already catch up
with the topic of sustainability.
So if we go to sustainability as well,
for example,
we at Owens Corning,
we are right now working
on end of life recycling,
which could be after life
as as well as for sure,
if it's a composite
just made and you have some
some kind of wasted material,
we are really right now bringing
it into a reprocessing or recycling
process. And then remelt to new fibers
and with the fibers
having the same properties
as it was at the beginning.
So that's one of the things
we are tackling.
So it's innovation right now
and sustainability are the main topics
too as well, tackle with rebars.
-Very good. Do you have a last message
to the market? What do you think
what's happened with rebar.
Just go pink and blue
and make GFRP be the next material
for using your concrete construction?
-Thank you very much, Paolo.
Thank you very much, Jens.
It was really great.
And I think it's in the same way
Rebars have a big future,
and we hope that also the German market
will come very soon
to the good idea
to use Rebars in the future.
Thank you very much.
And see you in the next time
here at our booth.
-Yeah. That's right.
Yeah. Come on.
That's good.