www.scanfiber.dk

Danish Company Develops Next Generation Ballistic Protection

Today's state of the art weapons, high velocity rounds and metal jacketed bullets are pushing ballistic protection products to the limit.

Such high performance firepower, land mines and IEDs cost lives. It is the goal of Scanfiber Composites A/S, says company founder and owner Erik Bundgaard Christiensen, to develop and produce life-saving ballistic protection to meet these threats. The Danish company Scanfiber specialises in ballistic protection for vehicles, helicopters, ships and buildings, as well as mine protection for personnel and vehicles.

Erik Bundgaard founded Scanfiber but had already worked with high-strength fibres and composite materials for ballistic protection for the previous seven years.

With more than 17 years research and development behind it, the company is recognised internationally for its competence in high performance fibres and advanced composite materials. Scanfiber has customers in the military, airlines, police, various ministries and relief organisations all over the world. Export markets are the mainstay of Scanfiber's business, with the Danish market representing only about a tenth of company turnover.

For Scanfiber's customers, safety is first priority but composite materials have another important property. Compared with traditional armouring, depending on the level of protection required, composites can be as much as 70 per cent lighter than solutions that use steel or concrete.

Composite materials give maximum strength with minimum weight, and reduce the possibility of injury to personnel or damage to equipment inside a vehicle, airplane or ship.

Their value, however, is not only in affording maximum protection but also in minimising its contribution to payload. Lightweight materials also mean lower maintenance costs, lower fuel consumption and fewer breakdowns, compared with a vehicle using steel armour offering the same level of protection.

Scanfiber products are made from different fibre materials based on fibreglass, aramide or polyethylene. Ballistic products are constructed from multiple layers of innovative fibres either tightly woven together or sandwiched one on another at 90º angles to form a web.

Hot pressing converts the fibres into strong panels, such as those used for protection against 7.62mm AP rifle ammunition, or into mats for flexible installation in vehicles, for example. Scanfiber materials are sold both as semi-finished products and as specific system solutions, and in most cases are developed in close co-operation with customers. Today, many Scanfiber products are designed and produced as a combination of different fabrics combined with other ballistic materials.

All of the materials have relatively high strength-to-weight ratios so that they can stop bullets and fragments, while still keeping the weight of the ballistic product to a minimum. By combining different fibres and other ballistic materials, the company has created next generation of ballistic protection.

Depending on the level of protection required, a combination of products can be used either alone or combined with ceramics or ballistic steel for very high levels of protection, e.g. protection against 14.5mm machine gun with armour piercing projectiles. All products are designed to meet a defined international standard - typically EN 1522 for civilian applications and NATO STANAG 2920 or STANAG 4569 for military applications.

Scanfiber's products are tested and certified by independent and recognised testing institutes like Beschussamt Mellrichstadt in Germany. This is a clients guarantee that products meet the required level of protection and they are supplied with a specific test certificate.

Scanfiber places its entire fibre composites and ballistics expertise at the disposal of its customers at all stages of product development, from the identification and determination of the necessary protection level, to the finished product.

Production processes are subject to strict quality control and although Scanfiber's suppliers are among the leaders in the world, all raw materials are inspected upon arrival at its production facility.

Scanfiber A/S is ISO-9001-certified and the production processes take place according to several quality assurance systems. In environmental terms, production can be described as green production and all products - which are fully traceable - can usually be recycled after the end of use. Early in 2006 Scanfiber moved to brand new and larger premises to meet growing demand for its products.

The new domicile will give us three times the capacity we were running in 2005, explains owner Erik Bundgaard Christensen. Although internationally Scanfiber has a number of very large competitors, it is still experiencing growth in almost all export markets.

First and foremost this is due to the fact that Scanfiber is a medium sized and flexible company: We have no mass market products and normally we develop and adapt every product specifically to the needs of the customer. Ease of communication and ability to adapt to any given market in the world, gives us an excellent position among the giants in this sector, says Erik Bundgaard Christiensen.

Scanfiber Composites A/S - Light Weight Vehicle Ballistic, Mine and IED Protection for the Military

Innovative force protection products are sought and offered by many countries around the world, and Danish company Scanfiber Composites A/S is specialised in the development and manufacturing of light weight armour based on advanced fibre composites. The company is providing lightweight ballistic protection solutions on military (army, navy and air force) operations in various theatres of combat.

Ballistic Protection for Civilian use

Scanfiber also provide solutions for ballistic protection in civilian use and has references from a wide range of projects going from police, Special Forces, UN relief organisations and many others.

Ballistic Blanket with Integrated Shock Absorbing Materials

One of Scanfiber's new and innovative products Scanshock, a registered product, offers protection against fragments and shrapnel from anti-personnel mines, while simultaneously reducing the impact on body parts on the troops inside a vehicle. Former Lieutenant Commander Jann Richard Jensen, sales manager force protection at the company, explains: “Scanshock is a ballistic blanket with integrated special Shock-absorbing material, installed in the bottom of vehicles, to prevent bones being splintered and pulverised.”

Vehicle Mine Blast Protection using Advanced Fibre Composites

The requirement followed an incident where a soldier was injured in a mine blast. Initially the product was procured for retrofitting in light vehicles. Talks are now ongoing to supply Scanshock for heavier vehicles as well. “The customers needed protection for older soft skinned vehicles (little or non protection). The requirement is escalating,” says Jensen. Several European countries are considering retro fitting Scanshock in their vehicles in the near future. As an example, a Land Cruiser kit covers 7 sqm of the vehicle interior for ballistics, and approximately 2m to 5 sqm depending on vehicle size, for impact absorption. In this example the total weight including the shock absorbing material rises from 65 kg, for the ballistic blanket alone, to approximately 75 kg for the whole vehicle.

Ballistic, LandMine, IED and Light Ammunition Protection

Meanwhile, Scanfiber is also rolling out another new registered product, the Scantex Ballistic Multi Bag. It is designed to brake or stop IED, hand grenade and landmine fragments, as well as handgun ammunition. It is effectively an individual protection system that can be carried around as body armour or to protect items stored inside, used as a sleeping bag, or even adapted to carry Scanshock material and used as a mobile seat cover in armoured vehicles. It is due to go into service this autumn, while talks are ongoing with several military customers for further procurements of the Scantex Ballistic Multi Bag.

Scanfiber Composites A/S
Niels Bohrs Vej 11
9870 Sindal
Denmark

Phone: +45 98 93 44 33
Email: info@scanfiber.dk
www.scanfiber.dk

 

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