Beginning in 2001, Saertex US started production in its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Huntersville, North Carolina, near the economic centre of Charlotte. Since then, production has been expanded to a total of more than 120,000 ft square, which represents the largest multi-axial fabrics facility in the Americas.

The fabrics produced there are used in a number of different industries, including automotive and aviation, wind, shipbuilding, sports and recreation, as well as the construction industry – such as GRP reinforcements for pipe rehabilitation like the Saertex-Liner.

The Saertex–Liner, a glass fibre-reinforced pipe liner and core product of Saertex multicom, has been successfully used in Europe for more than 20 years. The pipe liner replaces felt liners so far used by communities to line wastewater and stormwater pipes.

The liner has a proven 70-year lifespan, which makes its use extremely economical. In addition, less labour is needed to carry out its installation compared to traditional felt liners and is, in many respects, the most environmentally-friendly method to rehabilitate wastewater and storm pipes.

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Saertex multicom is using the sophisticated infrastructure in Huntersville as its basis of operation in the Americas.

Curing with UV

In 2009, Saertex multicom opened a distribution warehouse in Denver, Colorado, and invested in the latest UV-curing technology. UV systems are available for rent, lease and purchase. The company also offers a mobile UV rig for installations in narrow environments.

The installation with UV systems in combination with the Saertex high performance UV resin is very fast due to extreme short curing times – up to 6 ft/min. Professional and highly-experienced technicians train and support customers on all aspects of installing the Saertex-Liner.

In September 2011, Saertex hosted a product demo at its US headquarters in Huntersville. The program was organised and moderated by experts of Saertex multicom. More than 20 city officials from surrounding communities, contractors and engineering firms joined the demonstration and were impressed by the simplicity and rapidness of the UV-curing method.

The extreme strength of the product after the curing process had been carried out, led to great enthusiasm. The enormous strength of 1,740,453 psi (flexural modulus) was also demonstrated to the attendees by placing the 26,000 lb Saertex UV truck onto the just-cured GRP liner without doing any damage to the cured liner material.

With a great response from the local and outlying communities interested in the product, Vice President Mark Hallett said the demo was quite a success.

Saertex US plans to carry out further demonstrations to present their liner technology to interested parties in 2012.