DECEMBER 20239especially refurbishment segment, we bring new products for rail bonding. These rails underlying with a structural elastic adhesive are key for noise and vibration reduction. By introducing curing-by-design solutions, the working time for the applicator could be easily doubled combined with nearly six times shortened return to service, which allows easily to perform the refurbishment work during the traffic-free night shift and therefore without any traffic interruptions." The awarded technology was even transferred to the flooring business, which helps reduce or minimize unproductive waiting times for the products to cure. With a typical polyurethane resin flooring system, each build-up layer generally needs one day for application and curing. With an increasing number of projects requiring a faster return-to-service, it would be beneficial to carry out as many of the working steps as possible or complete the build-up in a single day. These were several examples of how Sika can use one technology for different applications, and currently, many more are under investigation. Fabien Choffat was born February 27, 1978 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. In January 1999, I went to high school in Solothurn and graduated. In the same year, he started his studies in Technical Chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. In 2003 he completed his studies at ETH Zurich as a Diploma Chemist. In January 2004, he joined the Polymer Technology group of Prof. Paul Smith and Prof. Walter Caseri for his doctorate studies about the synthesis and characterization of inorganic, semi-conductive polymers (Polystannanes). In August 2007, he joined the adhesive research & development group of Sika Technology AG (Zurich, Switzerland) as the R&D project leader. He developed and introduced several new sealants and adhesives based on silane-terminated polymer technology. In January 2011, he appointed R&D Head of silane terminated products. In March 2018, he took over the lead in developing 2C adhesives within Sika, taking care of global 2C adhesive developments within Sika. In January 2022, he was appointed as Head of Technology ­ Structural Adhesives and therefore has the R&D responsibility of Sika Structural Adhesive initiatives.Figure: Application of curing-by-design rail fixing product. This technology permits faster bonding of new self-supporting glass-fiber frames, a core feature for a new range of ultra-lightweight constructionDr. Fabien Choffat
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