Face-Saving Material Protects and Prevents

When your business is protecting workers from industrial accidents, protection and prevention go hand in hand. That’s why Fibre-Metal face shields are made from Eastman Chemical Company’s Tenite® acetate propionate—it delivers a unique combination of chemical resistance, toughness and optical clarity not found in typical face shields. These shields go beyond the impact resistance of ordinary face shields to include zero optical distortion, which prevents accidents resulting from poor visual perception.

“Fibre-Metal is committed to providing protective factors, and optical clarity really is a protective factor,” says Thijs Jaarsma, Market Development Manager Eastman. While the typical process of fabricating face shields is to stamp and cold-bend the part from flat sheet, this leads to distortion that includes hazing and clouding. Impaired vision in an industrial environment can spell disaster. So Fibre-Metal molds Tenite acetate propionate into a curved shape that eliminates optical distortion and protects workers from potential harm.

Tenite acetate is a user-friendly material to work with. According to Thijs Jaarsma: “Tenite acetate propionate has a wide processing window, making it a more forgiving resin, so there’s a shorter ramp up time and less scrap. And since it’s a natural cellulosic, it can be cut, sawed or drilled just like ordinary wood, without hazing or stress-whitening.” That’s a plus in this application where the shields are often mounted onto protective headgear.

Fibre-Metal considered all the commonly used materials including polycarbonate, vinyl, acetate and propionate. “We found Tenite acetate propionate provided the best all around protection against a spectrum of hazards,” notes Thijs Jaarsma. These premium face shields deliver toughness and chemical resistance, a combination unique to Fibre-Metal.

The face shields have proven very successful in the shipbuilding industry, protecting workers from the impact of particles from welding, grinding and other airborne hazards. But thanks to the chemical resistance of Tenite acetate propionate, they offer additional benefits of protection from and durability to withstand lubricants and other chemicals and coatings commonly found in industrial applications. And exposure doesn’t necessarily come from a splash or unusual mishap. Casual contact with these chemicals during the course of a day’s work is highly likely. Ordinary face shields would be permanently damaged from exposure to these chemicals—not so for Fibre-Metal shields.

This winning combination makes Fibre-Metal face shields the high-performance brand leader in industrial protection.

Fibre-Metal Products, based in Concordville, Pa., U.S.A., designs and manufactures quality personal protective equipment.

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