When five out of 18 submissions are deemed worthy of an award, it speaks volumes for the innovative strength of the polymer industry. The aim of the FSK Innovation Award, which has been presented since 1998, is not only to honor forward-looking ideas, but above all to promote young talent and support cooperation between the award winners and potential industrial partners. The expert jury selected by the FSK evaluates according to a number of criteria, e.g. novelty, market and competitiveness, sustainability, technical feasibility and design. Prizes are awarded in various categories in the “Professionals/Professionals” and “Young Professionals” categories.

Each award winner impresses in their own way with their inventive spirit and innovative strength. Presenter Sven Müller, whose main job is innovation manager at Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH, knows what is important: “If you want innovation, you have to believe in an idea and drive it forward vehemently. And the organization that promotes innovation needs a healthy culture of error. Failure must also be allowed.”

The five award-winning innovations are a long way from failure. They have all already made the leap from the laboratory into practice.

  • A project team led by Professor Dr Harald Loy, Head of R&D at Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH, succeeded with a process for greater safety against track distortions. The innovative sleeper pads made of PU interlock with the ballast and thus reduce temperature-related track distortions. Despite significantly increased stability, expensive and complex safety caps will be obsolete in future. The innovation was presented by Martin Dietrich. He accepted the award for the first placement in the “Sustainability specialists/professionals” category on behalf of the team.
  •  Eric Sprenger and his team from nora systems GmbH impressed the jury with a permanent connection of EVA foam plastic completely without glue. The nora© Lunatec fusion process joins EVA sheets using heat, pressure and time without glue – permanently and firmly. The process has been registered for a patent and won also the first place at the FSK Innovation Award in the “Technology specialists/professionals” category.
  • PhD student Adam Pajonk from FH Münster impressed the jury with his 3D printing of polyurethane with variable material properties. Along an end-to-end digital value chain, components are created that enable new solutions, particularly in architecture. His innovation earned him second place in the “Technology” category as a “Young Talent”. The award was nothing new for him, as he was already awarded an innovation prize by the FSK in 2017 as part of a trio.
  • Third place in the “Technology” category also went to a young talent. Eduard Kremer from the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Skilled Crafts, RWTH Aachen University, showed the specialist audience how sensor-based process monitoring in PUR-RIM can take the load off the operator and significantly increase the number of good parts. Thanks to sensor-based monitoring, skin peeling and incomplete mold filling are a thing of the past. By using temperature, pressure and DEA sensors as well as environmental parameters such as temperature, air pressure and humidity, process fluctuations are detected at an early stage. All data is displayed visually on a graphical dashboard.
  • The second third place in the “Technology” category again went to a “specialist/professional”. Dr-Ing Tobias Schaible from the Stuttgart Institute of Plastics Technology impressed with his work on inline characterization and prediction of viscosity and initial bubble growth behaviour during foaming. The inline observation method makes it possible for the first time to characterize the expansion deformation behaviour prevailing at the edge of the bubble in the real manufacturing process.

All innovations underline the claim of the protagonists in the FSK to deliver solutions for the future. A quintet that deserves recognition for its achievements.

Winners of the FSK Innovation Award Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes 2023 (from left to right): Adam Pajonk, Sven Müller (presenter), Martin Dietrich, Eduard Kremer, Dr-Ing. Tobias Schaible, Stefan Raffel, Mario Kröger, Eric Sprenger (source: FSK)

Further information on the Fachverband Schaumkunststoffe und Polyurethane e.V. (FSK) and its events, as well as on the work of the expert committees, is available online at www.fsk-vsv.de/eng or by phone: 0711 993 751- 0.