Tech center spawns ideas
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 25, 2004
ENNIS, Texas — ENNIS, Texas– The idea first popped up in the Technology Center here that is situated on ElkCorp.'s 51.5-acre complex.
"We felt we had some technologies that could be applicable to other markets," recalled Dr. Louis Hahn, director of the Technology Center, part of the sprawling Elk facility here 33 miles south of Dallas that includes plants that produce roofing products and nonwoven fabrics.
Thus began a three-year, $3.8-million odyssey that led Hahn, Younger Ahluwalia, and other Elk researchers to successfully adapt a fire-protection technology originally developed for roofing products to the new category of fire-resistant mattress protection.
The result is Elk's VersaShield fire barrier fabric, a coated substrate product with unique fire-resistant qualities.
Elk says VersaShield "easily passes" California's proposed mattress flammability test, "even with the burn times doubled." The product offers "significant fire resistance at an affordable cost," works with any ticking, does not compromise manufacturing effectiveness, and does not compromise comfort, according to Elk.
The company adds that VersaShield "is very easy to use. Just insert it at the second, third or fourth layer of your quilt. It will work with any ticking."
Frank Kelly, director of sales for Elk's consumer fire-retardant products, said there has never been a structural failure of VersaShield in the dozens of mattress burn tests that have been conducted with the product when the mattress and box springs were properly constructed.
The coated fiberglass is a proprietary blend of inert materials and polymers that has self-extinguishing characteristics and maintains its structural integrity when subjected to fire, thus keeping the flames away from a major fuel source. Fiberglass – sand that has been melted and converted into fibers – can successfully withstand almost 2,000 degrees of heat.
While the current VersaShield fire barrier is based on fiberglass technology, Elk is not limited to that technology. "There are other possibilities," Hahn said. Elk is looking at a number of other potential FR solutions for future products, including combinations of fibers.
"As the business evolves and as the technology evolves, there will be a fine-tuning process with our products," Hahn said. "We are constantly looking for a better way to do things. We are looking at various substrates and coatings technologies. As mattress flammability protection is implemented, it will be those companies who are most innovative who will survive and thrive."
Elk plans to be one of those survivors. The company is almost doubling the size of its Technology Center here, to 10,300 square feet. The expansion is scheduled to be completed by April of this year.
Meanwhile, the research into the next generation of Elk's FR products goes on.
-
Elk takes FR savvy into bedding arena
Jan 29, 2004
Featured Company
-
Wright Labels
Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
