Finding ways to save money and the environment is important for polyurethane manufacturers. Using Walki®Peel Foam or Walki®Cover Foam protection materials helps producers of PUR foam blocks to cut down on costly chemical consumption, while at the same time reduce waste in manufacturing.

Walki Group, a leading global supplier of carrier material for the foaming industry, has spent many years developing its well-established paper-based Walki-Foam products.

Peelable Walki®Peel Foam and conventional Walki®Cover Foam materials are used to cover all of the inner walls of the foaming line on which the polyurethane is injected and where it expands. This brings various benefits to manufacturers, including stable production quality and good chemical hold out, which ultimately leads to cost savings and higher profits.

Less chemicals; lower production costs

With chemicals expenses accounting for as much as 97% of production costs in polyurethane manufacturing, there is no room for wastage in the foaming process. Using Walki-Foam products is estimated to reduce raw material costs by some three per cent.

- The high and even quality of our Walki-Foam materials also helps to ensure trouble free foam production, makes it easier to keep foaming lines clean, and runs easily on a PUR-line compared with standard polyethylene films and conventional processing paper, says Kari Salminen, Business Line Manager at Walki’s Technical Products -division.

- Moreover, we offer reasonably short lead times, of two to three weeks, for most of our process liner materials.

Multiple uses and benefits

Walki’s peelable protection material can be used as a top, side, and bottom layer in the PUR-foaming process, while Walki®Cover Foam is a universal carrier in the foaming process.

- Both products combine high-quality and recyclable kraft paper with very thin polymer layer that is specially developed for the foam industry to ease up the foam production process and protect the ready PUR block against excessive moisture, dirt, and harmful effects of UV-light, says Salminen.

The paper layer is peeled off when the foam block comes off the line for curing. Meanwhile, the PE layer stays in place around the block forming a protective barrier around the final product.

- The PE layer also prevents the paper from flex cracking during production, ensuring less machine stops and cleaning procedures and avoiding longer set-up times.

Recyclable material creates less waste/Transforming manufacturing waste into profit

An additional advantage from using Walki’s foam carrier materials is the recyclability of the kraft paper.

- Standard polyethylene films used by some manufacturers are very thick adding to the environmental burden. Our paper-based products help to create significantly less waste in manufacturing. The kraft paper can be recycled, or even sold forward for an additional profit, Salminen says. /ins  

Caption 1:  

Walki-Foam products give good chemical hold out and lower the chemical consumption of polyurethane foam producers.
© Walki

Caption 2:

Different fields, such as the furniture industry, mattress manufacturing and the automobile industry, use polyurethane blocks for various purposes, with demands on quality being often very high.
© Walki

About Walki Group

Walki Group is a leading producer of technical laminates and protective packaging materials, specialising in the production of fibre based, intelligent, multilaminate products for markets as diverse as energy saving construction facings to barrier packaging applications. Walki Group has operations in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the UK and China with a workforce of about 1,000 people. Annual net sales for the Group are 320 million Euros.

For more information, please contact:

Walki Group
Kari Salminen
Business Line Manager, Walki Construction Facings.

Mobile: +358 (0)40 737 1917
www.walki.com

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