Norplex-Micarta is a leading manufacturer of high performance thermoset composite materials. Norplex-Micarta manufactures the highest quality specialty sheet products, pre-pregs, rods, molded shapes, and tubes to meet demanding applications for OEMs and fabricators around the world.
The global headquarters of Norplex-Micarta is located in Postville, Iowa, USA. to support the demand for thermoset composite materials in Asia, the Company also operates a facility in Changzhou, Jiangsu, P.R. China. Customers outside of mainland China are serviced by trade offices located in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
With a history of more than 100 years, the Company's legacy of innovation, quality, and unparalleled service make Norplex-Micarta your partner for Global Thermoset Composite Solutions.
Markets
Power Generation: insulation and structural materials and parts for generator rotors and stators
Medical Devices: MRI coil components, surgical and x-ray table materials and other specialty products
Oil and Gas: materials and parts for pipeline supports, gaskets, and down hole tools
Electrical Devices: insulation for switchgear, transformers, motors and other high voltage and high temperature applications
Heavy Industry : wear components, structural, insulation, and high temperature materials and parts for thousands of applications
Transportation and Aerospace : lightweight and strong materials and parts that are resistant to extreme temperatures and stresses
Equipment and Process Capability
Norplex-Micarta produces sheets, tubes, rods, and other specialty molded shapes for hundreds of thousands of different applications in dozens of different industries.
Utilizing custom designed equipment, in China, Norplex-Micarta can produce pre-preg up to 1520mm wide. Maximum sheet width is 1440mm which may allow certain applications to achieve even greater part yield from a sheet. Sheets are regularly produced from 0.127mm to 150mm in thickness, and even greater thicknesses are possible upon request. Tubes, rods, and specialty shapes are produced in the USA to customer specifications.
In China, the Company also fabricates materials to customer requirements. Machining capabilities include CNC lathes, mills, and routers as well as sanding and other standard machining processes.
Norplex-Micarta's production occurs with environmental protection in as a basic requirement. All manufacturing processes are controlled and include significant investments in thermal oxidizer (RTO) and energy conservation systems in order to meet the Company's commitment to environmental protection.
Quality Control
Norplex-Micarta utilizes state of the art, custom designed, computer process controls to ensure materials and parts are produced under tightly controlled conditions supported by an ISO 9001 compliant quality management system.
Norplex-Micarta laboratories in both the USA and China are capable of testing many different properties of composite materials. For example, mechanical properties can be tested from -70 degree to 350 dgree via a temperature chamber, glass transition Temperature (Tg) can be tested via DSC and DMA, and electrical properties are tested on a 100KV dielectric breakdown machine custom built for this application. The laboratories support ongoing product and raw material testing, verification required by customers, and new product development.
R&D
Over 60% of the material produced by Norplex-Micarta is made to customer specifications.
From the global headquarters in the USA, and utilizing resources in China, the Company works directly with OEMs and other consumers of composite materials to develop new materials in order to solve unique challenges. Research and development projects have produced new generations of products such as tubes that can withstand the high temperature and stress environment in down hole oil and gas applications and unique worker protection devices in the electricengineering field.
