Evonik is further expanding its Weiterstadt PMMA plant

Evonik started the construction of a new stretching and polishing plant at the Weiterstadt site with a groundbreaking ceremony on March 2. The Essen-based group is reportedly investing a two-digit million euro amount in the plant. Thanks to systematic forward integration, Evonik’s Performance Materials Segment will then become a complete provider of cast and stretched polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheets for the aviation industry.
The new plant will be the most advanced of its kind in the world for production of stretched aircraft materials made from PLEXIGLAS®. It is being constructed directly next to the existing production facility for the cast PMMA blocks that serve as the primary products for the stretching process. The plant allows production of stretched PMMA sheets that are more than twice as large as the currently available formats, yet satisfy the standards (Mil-P-25690 and EN 4366) of the aviation industry.
This is Evonik’s second investment in quick succession at the Weiterstadt site: the construction of a production plant for high-grade PMMA flat film was announced as recently as mid-February, with investment again in the two-digit million range.