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2.286 meters depth,
at 228.6 bar external pressure
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LTK® The original
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It allows you to discover new worlds.
Work together across oceans.
Connecting what was previously separate.
Withstand extreme pressure.
And open a new chapter in aquanautics.
With a seemingly impossible idea, two Swabian visionaries created a world-changing solution from two innovative plastics - the high-performance plastic LTK® PURE and acrylic glass.
2.286 meters deep, at 228.6 bar external pressure
How did Handtmann Elteka come to participate in this ambitious deep-sea "diving bell" project? And how did it come about that it even provided the only solution to a fundamental problem by combining Lauramid® engineering plastic with acrylic glass in a way that is second to none? We spoke to Heinz Fritz, owner of Heinz Fritz GmbH and also a Swabian visionary:
WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR A DIVING LOCK COME FROM?
So the idea came from an American customer who had huge problems with bonding and wanted to have these problems solved. And he came to us via Röhm. We made him a sample ball and glued it together. That was the origin of this whole development.
WHAT WAS THE BIG CHALLENGE?
The big challenge started with the raw material. In principle, you need raw materials that are not commercially available on the market. In other words, we had to get our good main supplier, Röhm, to supply us with these raw materials. We made a lot of developments and also built a lot of casting tools so that these raw materials could be produced in this size. We were busy for a year or two until the first sphere was ready. And then came the problem that if you can dive 200 or 300 meters, then of course you suddenly want 500 meters, 1000 meters. Even more, even more. In other words, these challenges didn't stop over the course of ten years; on the contrary, they kept increasing.
WHY DO LTK® AND ACRYLGLAS FIT TOGETHER PERFECTLY?
We found out that there is a black hole in this pressure vessel regulation, the PVHO-1 (Pressure Vessel Human Occupancy), which exists worldwide for all these products, as far as polyamide is concerned. Everything was defined in the acrylic area, very small and very precise. But the problem was that in principle there were - let's put it mildly - black holes in the polyamide sector, where it was clear to me as a plastics specialist that there were problems ahead. That's why I sought out Handtmann Elteka, years ago, to start literally getting Handtmann Elteka on board here.
WAS IT CLEAR BEFORE THAT THE COMBINATION OF LTK® AND ACRYLIC GLASS WOULD WORK?
Lauramid® has approximately the same water absorption as acrylic glass. This means that we have materials that are very close to each other. This also means that there is no issue with the connections, so that was clear.
HOW DID THE CONTACT COME ABOUT?
There was a brief contact a long, long time ago via Voith in the paper sector. So we knew that Lauramid® existed and it was clear to us that Handtmann Elteka would be the supplier here. And of course, proximity always plays a role. I would much rather have a - in quotation marks - "Swabian" supplier or partner than some partner based somewhere far, far away. And then we also invited the people from what was then Germanischer Lloyd, which is now DNV (Det Norske Veritas), to join us so that Handtmann Elteka could obtain similar approvals, which Fritz already had. You need the approval of the testing institutes, or rather the insurance company, i.e. the testing company that certifies it. You need these approvals and we already had them. It's quite a detailed story, you have to meet a lot of requirements and that's absolutely correct in order to be allowed to produce these complex parts. And Handtmann Elteka has received this approval over the years. You need the approval of the testing institutes, or rather the insurance company, i.e. the testing company that certifies it. You need these approvals and we already had them. It's quite a detailed story, you have to fulfill a lot of requirements and that's absolutely correct so that you can produce these complex parts. And Handtmann Elteka has received this approval over the years.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
Jules Verne "20,000 meters under the sea" (laughs). No, there will certainly be many, many opportunities to do things together here in the future, because the combination is just great. We have also, and we are now allowed to talk about this, for a cylinder that was used for blending Biontech, i.e. for vaccines. We used Lauramid® there. We installed Lauramid® on the inside of this PLEXIGLAS® cylinder.
HOW WAS THE COOPERATION WITH HANDTMANN ELTEKA?
There's not much unusual to report. The contact was always on an equal footing and very professional. You first have to get the partner companies excited about a project like this, which is exactly what we do. Then we had to inspire everyone else, i.e. those who built the forming tools for us, so that we could get them. We are dependent on many components before we can produce an immersion bell. You need the ovens, the know-how, the raw blocks. It's like a rat's tail of things in the chain that you have to have before you can produce something like this. And that is completely underestimated.
LTK® The original. For every industry. For every requirement.
This is not just a great marketing move, it is the realization of what Arthur Handtmann had hoped for 55 years ago. To develop a high-performance plastic from the material PA 12 that meets every shape, every possibility and every requirement. Whether through abrasion resistance, memory effect, low water absorption, high dimensional stability and resilience or many other properties in mold casting - LTK® is unique. But would he have thought back then that his Lauramid® would one day reach the deepest depths of the oceans to bring its secrets to light?
In this blog, join us on the many journeys Lauramid® engineering plastic has made around the world. From the snow-covered slopes of the Alps, to the underground of international cities, to the operating theaters of the planet's hospitals. Find out here whether Lauramid® will be content with the earth in the future or whether it will aim even higher.
Heinz Fritz GmbH
Heinz Fritz, a Swabian visionary who - just like Arthur Handtmann - discovered, researched and perfected the almost impossible possibilities in the processing and refinement of a plastic.