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Argotec, Inc.

Argotec, Inc. has been manufacturing products used in the construction industry's laminated glass market for over 20 years. The company is the world's largest manufacturer of aliphatic polyurethane optical interlayer films and multilayer TPU edge seal products for protecting laminated glass composites.

Used to bond glass to glass, polycarbonate or other substrates, Argotec's optical interlayer films are unmatched for optical clarity, lay-flat and overall quality. This is why they extrude over 50 percent of the world's total usage of polyurethane interlayer films, as well as nearly 90 percent of all TPU-bonded aircraft canopies and side windows.

Since its founding in 1988, Argotec has supplied interlayer films made from the vast majority of aliphatic urethane resins available on the market. These films are specified in UL-approved construction installations requiring bullet and blast resistance, as well as in a variety of aerospace and automotive applications, including:

• Embassies
• Jails & correctional facilities
• Banks & financial institutions
• Hurricane-resistant buildings
• Building-glass applications where extremely high strength and impact resistance is required
• Armored civilian and military vehicles
• Bullet-resistant limousines
• Armored trucks
• Commercial and military aircraft canopies and windows
• Computer touch screens

In 1995, the company co-developed and began manufacturing its original multilayer edge seal product, Argotec BOC-9459 Edge SealTM. Its purpose was to address the problems of chipping during handling and installation of laminated glass products, and to provide some barrier to liquids and gases that could penetrate and damage the glass interlayer while in service. Over the years this basic design has performed well and is employed by over 90 percent of all laminators using polyurethane interlayers.

As applications have evolved, however, the environments to which they are exposed have become harsher and the expectations of the end-users have increased. Thus, in 2009, Argotec developed an improved edge-seal product that provides enhanced resistance to moisture, cleaners and the solvents contained in the caulks and sealants used during glass installation. Called ArgoEdgeSealPLUS®, it includes a foil layer sandwiched between two layers of tough, chemical-resistant polyurethane to provide significantly improved resistance to moisture and chemical penetration, as well as longer life expectancy, even in traditional glass-on-glass laminates. It will work with both TPU and PVB interlayered laminates.

Expansion Ensures Highest Quality

In 2009, Argotec moved its staff and much of its manufacturing into a new, 95,000 square foot facility near its first two plants. To ensure highest quality products possible, the company's entire aliphatic tpu film production was moved into an 8,000 square foot atmospherically controlled white room where each individual extrusion line is housed in its own ISO Class 7 clean room. The result is the cleanest, most optically clear films in the industry today.

A privately held company, Argotec also provides custom-engineered, precision-extruded film and sheet for a wide variety of other critical applications using flat-die, cast-on-carrier and blown-film-extrusion technologies. The company also has expertise in extrusion coating, multi-layer constructions and closed-cell polyurethane foam sheet extrusion. It sells manufactures and sells polyurethane film to the worldwide specialty films marketplace for use in construction, medical, surface protection, textile lamination and graphics markets.

Argotec ships its TPU optical interlayers and laminated glass edge seal products worldwide.

Argotec, Inc.
53 Silvio O. Conte Drive
Greenfield, MA 01301
Tel: (413) 772-2564
Fax: (413) 772-2565
E-mail: info@argotec.com
Web site: http://www.argotec.com