SubscribeTodays state of the art weapons, high velocity rounds and metal jacketed bullets are pushing ballistic protection products to the limit.
Such high performance firepower, land minesand IEDs cost lives. It is the goal of Scanfiber Composites A/S, says company founder and owner Erik Bundgaard Christiensen, to develop and produce life-saving ballistic protection to meet these threats The Danish company Scanfiber specialises in ballistic protection for vehicles, helicopters, ships and buildings, as well as mine protection for personnel and vehicles.
Erik Bundgaard founded Scanfiber but had already worked with high-strength fibres and composite materials for ballistic protection for the previous seven years.
With more than 17 years research and development behind it, the company is recognised internationally for its competence in high performance fibres and advanced composite materials. Scanfiber has customers in the military, airlines, police, various ministries and relief organisations all over the world. Export markets are the mainstay of Scanfibers business, with the Danish market representing only about a tenth of company turnover.
For Scanfibers customers safety is first priority but composite materials have another important property. Compared with traditional armouring, depending on the level of protection required, composites can be as much as 70 per cent lighter than solutions that use steel or concrete.
Composite materials give maximum strength with minimum weight, and reduce the possibility of injury to personnel or damage to equipment inside a vehicle, airplane or ship.
Their value, however, is not only in affording maximum protection but also in minimising its contribution to payload. Lightweight materials also mean lower maintenance costs, lower fuel consumption and fewer breakdowns, compared with a vehicle using steel armour offering the same level of protection.
Scanfiber products are made from different fibre materials based on fibreglass, aramide or polyethylene. Ballistic products are constructed from multiple layers of innovative fibres either tightly woven together or sandwiched one on another at 90º angles to form a web.
Hot pressing converts the fibres into strong panels, such as those used for protection against 7.62mm AP rifle ammunition, or into mats for flexible installation in vehicles, for example. Scanfiber materials are sold both as semi-finished products and as specific system solutions, and in most cases are developed in close co-operation with customers. Today, many Scanfiber products are designed and produced as a combination of different fabrics combined with other ballistic materials.
All of the materials have relatively high strength-to-weight ratios so that they can stop bullets and fragments, while still keeping the weight of the ballistic product to a minimum. By combining different fibres and other ballistic materials, the company has created next generation of ballistic protection.
Depending on the level of protection required, a combination of products can be used either alone or combined with ceramics or ballistic steel for very high levels of protection, e.g. protection against 14.5mm machine gun with armour piercing projectiles. All products are designed to meet a defined international standard - typically EN 1522 for civilian applications and NATO STANAG 2920 or STANAG 4569 for military applications.
Scanfiber´s products are tested and certified by independent and recognised testing institutes like Beschussamt Mellrichstadt in Germany. This is a clients guarantee that products meet the required level of protection and they are supplied with a specific test certificate.
Scanfibre places its entire fibre composites and ballistics expertise at the disposal of its customers at all stages of product development, from the identification and determination of the necessary protection level, to the finished product.
Production processes are subject to strict quality control and although Scanfibers suppliers are among the leaders in the world, all raw materials are inspected upon arrival at its production facility.
Scanfiber A/S is ISO-9001-certified and the production processes take place according to several quality assurance systems. In environmental terms, production can be described as green production and all products - which are fully traceable - can usually be recycled after the end of use. Early in 2006 Scanfiber moved to brand new and larger premises to meet growing demand for its products.
The new domicile will gives us three times the capacity we were running in 2005, explains owner Erik Bundgaard Christensen. Although internationally Scanfiber has a number of very large competitors, it is still experiencing growth in almost all export markets.
First and foremost this is due to the fact that Scanfiber is a medium sized and flexible company: We have no mass market products and normally we develop and adapt every product specifically to the needs of the customer. Ease of communication and ability to adapt to any given market in the world, gives us an excellent position among the giants in this sector, says Erik Bundgaard Christiensen.
Contact information
Scanfiber Composites A/S
Niels Bohrs Vej 11
9870 Sindal
Denmark
Tel: +45 9893 4433
Email: info@scanfiber.dk
Web: www.scanfiber.dk
