#TBT: 70 Years of Pioneering Work in Quartz Powder
For more than 140 years, Quarzwerke has been refining natural raw materials to meet the demands of each era. Generation after generation, our colleagues have contributed new ideas, driven innovation, and developed applications that go far beyond what originally seemed possible.
Today, as part of “Throwback Thursday,” we’re looking back at our first quartz powder product. This remarkable success story began in 1956, when the SIKRON® brand was registered with the Patent Office. It was Quarzwerke’s first product brand for quartz powder and, at the same time, the start of a development that continues to shape our company to this day.
As early as 1966, the developers at Quarzwerke were already exploring a new question: How can mineral fillers interact even more effectively with plastics and resin systems?
The answer lay in the surface of the individual particles. By coating them with so-called silanes, the quartz powders acquired entirely new properties. The fillers could now be incorporated much more effectively into organic systems and specifically enhance their performance. This led to the development of the first surface-treated fillers at Quarzwerke.
What is standard today was a true pioneering achievement back then. In 1968, Quarzwerke filed a patent application for its process for coating fine-grained bulk materials. This development gave rise to the SILBOND® brand. To this day, it stands for surface-treated quartz fillers that can be precisely tailored to the requirements of various applications.
SILBOND® marked the beginning of a new chapter for Quarzwerke. The focus was no longer solely on the processing of mineral raw materials, but increasingly on the targeted modification of their properties. Fillers became high-performance fillers.
From a single brand to an entire product family
What began with SIKRON® evolved over the following decades into an impressive range of specialty products. Today, the Quarzwerke Group’s portfolio includes numerous functional mineral products for a wide variety of industries—from plastics to coatings and building materials to high-tech applications.
Despite all the changes, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to developing innovative solutions from natural mineral raw materials to meet the demands of tomorrow.
