The partnership between Danfoss and Gealan is still relatively young. But on the very first project, Gealan was able to prove itself in its favorite discipline: metal replacement.

The chemistry was just right. Danfoss’ pragmatism, determined yet structured action and fair treatment in the project both impressed and motivated the staff at Gealan. These qualities were certainly decisive contributors to a successful project. This fits in with Gealan’s philosophy.

The first joint project: the flat station

The focus of this project was the substitution of various metal components by a highly integrative design of plastic components made of thermoplastic high-performance materials. Together with engineers from Danfoss, Gealan developed initial concepts for a so-called ‘flatstation’ in its CAXsolutions development center. In iterative loops, a highly operational and durable assembly made of the plastic material PPS has developed and validated. The result is one of the most complex applications that Gealan has developed and brought into series production to date, which is characterized by compactness and a very high degree of functional integration, among other things.

See one example of our experience with innovative connecting solutions:

Gealan and its metal replacement gene

Why does Gealan pay so much attention to metal replacement? The use of engineering thermoplastics is sustainable, as the CO2 balance far exceeds metals. The parts are lighter and save resources. The design criterion is that it can be used in the field for 15 years with confidence, and the material is 100 percent recyclable. In addition, it brings customers decisive advantages in terms of design freedom, installation space and costs, as well as enormous savings.

Design and material expertise

The decisive criterion for component design is knowledge of the material parameters. And this is where Gealan’s real know-how is evident. Thanks to a specially developed aging process, the company is able to mimic the impact of environmental conditions on the qualities of the material after 15 years of use in the field. The experiments with aged test specimens in Gealan’s water laboratory provide valuable information and are the key to successful component design and metal substitution.

See here our Xbody live:

A sustainable and financially viable future

Metal replacement offers enormously high potential in terms of sustainability, cost and resource conservation as well as the degrees of design freedom. But it’s not enough to simply replace them. It’s necessary to have a good plan behind it, innovations, the right tools, deep material know-how and, last but not least, partners who trust each other.

Danfoss and Gealan have proven this.