Marble sold by the roll / Innovative, ceramic-based wall covering

Dusseldorf, Germany (ots) -

- Cross-reference: photo (The Miller family) is
available at http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.html

The Miller family is very happy - the cottage in the country, a
small garden with a sandbox and a swing for the children, the freshly
tiled terrace - everything looks great. The only job that Peter
Miller, a painter and decorator by trade, has to finally get round to
doing is the bathroom.But tiling is not exactly something he's crazy
about. After all, cutting tiles is really tough going. Sometimes they
seem to have a mind of their own. And the joins only look good if
they run precisely parallel to each other. But Peter has found the
solution for his problem at the Home Textiles trade fair in
Frankfurt. Made by Degussa AG (Dusseldorf), the product is brand new
on the market and offers a number of advantages. Mary Miller was able
to choose the color shade she wanted, so she went for “Marble 501”.
Applying the covering was child's play for Peter - after all, he's a
professional. It took him just one day to get the bathroom gleaming
in a beige-green shade with orange marbling. And the wall covering
not only looks superb, it also meets all the norms for fittings and
fixtures in damp locations - even the spray from the shower won’t
damage the special wall coating. Three-year-old Lisa Miller has
already tried it out - she wants to be a firewoman when she grows up.

- Cross-reference: 2 photos (Water doesn't stand a chance) are
available at http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.html

The covering is highly water-resistant, and this is just one of
the many advantages that the material’s ceramic basis provides,
together with a number of completely new properties. Ceramic has
always been regarded as a tough, hard and brittle substance. After
all, that's why cups and plates shatter when they fall on the floor.
So it's absolutely not something you can simply roll up or apply to a
wall using a brush or a paint roller. And yet that is precisely what
Creavis Technologies & Innovation (Marl) has managed. The Research
and Development unit of Degussa AG, the world's leading specialty
chemicals company, has brought a flexible ceramic onto the market,
sold under the name ccflex, which can compete with tiles and
conventional wallpapers as a hard-wearing, easy-care wall covering.

Because it is ceramic, ccflex is scratchproof and
impact-resistant, resistant to chemicals and stable under ultraviolet
sun rays. It is also fire-resistant.Above all, however, it is
water-resistant yet can still breathe - that’s a major difference
from PVC and vinyl wallpapers,one that is particularly important in
the bathroom.And it has yet another benefit: “Our product is easy to
handle, because it is sold by the roll”, says Michael Schulze, the
Creavis man responsible for the sale and marketing of ccflex. Because
there are no joins when the material is applied, there are far fewer
hiding places for dirt to gather or mold to form. The covering is
normally applied using a traditional dispersion adhesive, which is
yet another advantage - when the Millers move house or redecorate,
they can simply remove the wall covering again. So that means no more
tedious dampening the wallpaper and then scraping it off.

- Cross-reference: photo (Withstands the test of fire) is
available at http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.html

Tailor-made properties - largely germ-free and highly
dirt-resistant

The properties of the product can be extensively customized to
suit particular purposes. For example, the properties can be adapted
to help significantly reduce the spread of bacteria and also to
prevent mold from forming. In addition, the flexible ceramic can be
equipped with other functional surface properties. It is, for
instance, particularly easy to clean. Young Lisa Miller has been
showing off her creativity here as well - the “murals” her mother
doesn't seem to particularly appreciate can easily be removed.
Child's play actually. Other applications for ccflex could include
wall coverings in living areas, workrooms and sanitary units, and as
decorative elements in buildings. As a response to all these
potential uses, ceramic surfaces are already available in a wide
range of colors and designs. And the Creavis team is hard at work
developing different designs to meet specific requirements and habits
in the USA, Great Britain and Germany.

- Cross-reference: photo (Four layers make up the "marble by the
roll) is available at http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.html

ccflex is based on a technology developed and patented by Degussa
in its Science to Business Center Nanotronics (Marl). It enables a
ceramic coating to be applied to a flexible carrier material, such as
a nonwoven polymer, in a continual process, with additional anorganic
covering layers then added. This unique process has major advantages:
normally, ceramic materials only achieve their strength and
durability at high temperatures. Experts refer to this process as
sintering. “We have succeeded in greatly reducing these temperatures
which otherwise would mean high energy consumption”,explains Dr.
Martin Wille, in charge of production and technology in the ccflex
unit. Thanks to the special expertise of Degussa, the ceramic can be
anchored and hardened onto the synthetic matrix at temperatures of
just 250 degree C approximately - up to 1,000 degree C lower than
before. The process involves a special kind of adhesion or bonding
between the carrier and coating; the material is ceramicized.Once the
surface has been printed to requirements, a transparent topcoat is
applied. The entire process is patented, as is the special
application.

Can be printed on or colored to provide a broad scope for design

The ceramic material, which consists of a mix of different metal
oxides, can even be colored or stained. Alternatively, after thermal
treatment patterns or motifs can be applied to the material, a job
which is handled by the partner company Kreativa Tapeten GmbH
(Hohenberg, Fichtelgebirge). Conventional printing processes such as
Flexodruck can be used to decorate the material in this fashion.
Finally, the waterresistant topcoat is in all cases added to seal the
surface, and a coating is then added to the reverse side of the
material for adhesion purposes. After the product has undergone
quality controls, the partner company assists in cutting it to
standard measurements and packaging it ready for shipping. “We are
currently manufacturing 25 meter rolls in 70 cm widths. We will also
have 100 cm widths available by the end of the year”, Schulze says.
In the meantime, Creavis has aquired another production line which
will be placed in its own hall and come on stream this year.This
production line will be able to produce rolls in widths of up to 150
cm. In turn, it should enable the company to tap into new markets for
coating furniture or work surfaces.

- Cross-reference: photo (Layer control) is
available at http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.html

In order to protect its know-how in flexible ceramics, Degussa is
handling the marketing of the new product itself. Due to the
remarkable response over the past few months at the “Material Vision”
and “Home Textiles” trade fairs, the company intends to sell more
than one million square meters by the end of 2007. Initially,
potential customers include architects, specialist plants and major
housing construction companies. The housing construction company
Rhein-Lippe, a part of the RAG Group, has already indicated its
interest in the product,and would like to renovate its housing stock
using ccflex. In addition to its excellent property profile, it
offers one more significant advantage:the wall covering that
originated in Marl can be worked more rapidly and more affordably
than tiles, which have to be applied piece-by-piece and then grouted.

The product’s low weight is another plus. It opens the door to a
large number of lightweight construction opportunities in trains,
airplanes and ships, where the need is for high functionality
combined with a luxury look. There could also be demand particularly
in the premium segment - meaning cruise ships or first class in
trains and airplanes - especially as the ceramic material should
receive a high fire protection rating. In ccflex Degussa has
developed an innovative product that promises a high market
potential. The first samples tried out by possible users met with
great interest. Soon it might not be just the Miller family that
finds their new “marble bathroom” exciting. The professional painter
and decorator already has a good idea how he is going to convince his
customers as well: “If necessary, I’ll bring them home with me and
show them - that will definitely work.”

Degussa is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our
business is creating essentials–innovative products and system
solutions that make indispensable contributions to our customers’
success. In fiscal 2005 around 44.000 employees world-wide generated
sales of 11.8 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of 940
million euros.

The press release photos are available for download on our web
site: www.degussa.com/en/press

The material may be reproduced free of charge, provided the source
is stated

Originaltext: Degussa AG
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ISIN: DE0005421903

Contact:
Hannelore Gantzer
Spokeswoman
Corporate Communications
T +49-211-65041-368
F +49-211-65041-527
hannelore.gantzer@degussa.com