Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- A new breed of utility poles using polyurethane raw materials from Bayer MaterialScience offer the highest strength-to-weight ratio on the infrastructure market, BMS said in a 31 March statement.
Rstandard composite utility poles from Resin Systems Inc. have withstood a direct hit from a tornado and weathered the harsh Scandinavian winter, the statement said.
"After much research and development, our polyurethane composite utility poles have been commercially available for over a year now," said Richard Holloway, executive vice president and chief technology officer with RS. "Through our modular design, we can build virtually any pole up to 165-ft. From early development to high-volume production, Bayer MaterialScience llc has been a key supplier for us, and a major contributor to the commercial success of our innovative utility pole," he added.
According to BMS, the PU composite poles offer improved durability and strength compared to traditional materials, have much lower transport and installation costs and are expected to last for around 125 years in most climates.
The poles are formed using RS's proprietary filament-winding process which places fibreglass on the axial surface of the pole with "zero-degree winds," the statement said.
"The lightweight properties of our polyurethane composite combined with our filament winding process results in poles that are one-tenth the weight of concrete, one-quarter the weight of steel and one-half the weight of wood, which is another significant advantage," said Holloway. (RD)
PIC: Resin System Inc.'s Rstandard composite utility poles
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