For many years, Kewell's has supplied specialist manufactured foams for marine buoyancy applications such as ship to shore pipeline connectors. Foam functions particularly well in a marine environment because of its particular combination of mechanical properties - low mass, high flexibility and durability. Its chemical properties, its relative hydrophobic nature and its inertness and resistance to salt water and chemical degradation make it the ideal material for the delivery of floating hoses around oil installations.
The relatively large scale of these applications has meant that Kewell Converters Ltd. is one of only a handful of businesses in Europe with the scale and experience to consistently deliver reliable hose applications in foam to the oil services market.
Traditional pneumatic marine buoyancy aids and flotation devices suffer from one extreme flaw - the ease with which they can be punctured and deflated. Closed-cell AZOTE foams do not have this problem, offering structures which are an unrivalled combination of safety, light weight and strength.
Construction materials
AZOTE foams have many applications in the marine construction field, for example, for floating hoses used in oil terminals and for dredging. Their buoyancy and flame retardant properties lend themselves perfectly for use in the manufacture of MOB (man overboard) boats, as used in off-shore oil exploration, and in amphibious cars.
Another marine application for buoyant AZOTE foams is for upholstery on ships.
PLASTAZOTE foam has densities down to 15kg / m3 making it the lightest polyethylene foam on the market, particularly appropriate for use as formers in hull-stiffening ribs and stringers of large FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) boats and other structures.
Fenders:
Pneumatic fenders will sink if damaged, so those made from AZOTE foams outstrip their traditional equivalents in a crucial way. Their properties also allow high energy absorption with a low reaction force - a fundamental requirement for any efficient fender.
Buoys:
The closed-cell formation of AZOTE foams makes them ideal for every sort of buoy whether cylindrical, anchor pendant, navigation or marker buoys.
Floats:
Our outstanding foam conversion techniques allow us to manufacture high-performing and durable AZOTE foam floats for umbilicals, ropes and cables.
We also produce self-fendering booms with highly-valued puncture protection properties. These have many applications, for example, oil containment and the creation of exclusion zones in waterways both in the open sea and inland