GEOfabrics Limited products

In addition to the inherent chemical and biological resistance associated with polypropylene, the polymer contains 1% carbon black to protect the long chain molecules from degradation by ultra-violet light. Using a unique manufacturing technique, GEOfabrics manufacture the HPS range with equal strength in both the length and the width of the material. The isotropic properties ensure that the product provides the necessary strength for touch civil applications.

For many years GEOfabrics has developed and provided a broad spectrum of tailor engineered geotextiles that are specifically manufactured to address many of the problematic ground conditions that exist beneath railway track. RK1 is GEOfabrics’ standard separation and filtration geotextile for use with a new sand blanket or where there is an existing good quality formation with a small percentage of coarse particles, i.e. less than 10% by weight less than 14mm.

HPS Orange is designed with all of the benefits of the standard HPS range with the added benefit of being a high visibility material. HPS Orange is a high visibility geotextile that has all the benefits of the standard HPS materials with the added advantage of being a vivid orange to act as a warning layer for future excavators and prevent them disturbing contaminated soils.

GEOfabrics can manufacture HPS products to specified colours for individual requirements. It is possible to manufacture to a specified pantone grade where required. HPS Coloured products have been used for arena events to protect sports surfaces from damage.

Protexia GPT geocomposites comprise longitudinal band drains incorporated within, or on one side of, a geotextile to provide low-cost area drainage and protection to a membrane. The drains are typically at 0.5m or 1.0m centres across the roll width and continuously along the entire length of the roll. These products are used extensively to replace expensive mineral layers where the requirement is for sustained flow under high loadings.

Tracktex is a unique patented geocomposite and the result of over a decade of research by trackbed engineers and materials scientists. Its specialist filter system improves trackbed quality over time and has been proven to significantly increase maintenance intervals. The use of Tracktex is the most cost effective way of preventing and correcting mud pumping failure. Rainwater is unable to penetrate the micro-porous filter and is drained laterally to the side of the track while pore water below the Tracktex is relieved upwards under cyclic loading which aids residual slurry to dry out as the pore water is dissipated.

LFX is a multilayer composite that replaces half of the granular blanket in a landfill basal drainage system with a factory manufactured geosynthetic that combines the drainage and membrane protection functions into one easy to lay product.

RK4 is typically employed at the base of rail ballast to whereby the geogrid locks the ballast into place to limit lateral movement and maintain tack alignment and the geotextile acts as a filter to prevent the intermixing of soils with the ballast layer maintaining the integrity of the drainage system.

Geomembranes generally serve a singular purpose, to act as a barrier to liquids and gasses, as such geomembranes are generally impermeable (10-10 m/s). Geomembranes are used in applications where it is necessary to prevent the loss of water or toxic materials. Extruded geomembranes are manufactured using relatively basic manufacturing processes, the manufacturing of geomembranes begins with the production of the raw materials, which include the polymer resin (plastic or rubber), and various additives such as antioxidants, plasticizers, fillers, carbon black, and lubricants (as a processing aid). These raw materials (i.e., the “formulation”) are then processed into sheets of various widths and thickness by extrusion, calendaring, and/or spread coating. The formulation can be a plastic (e.g. PVC, HDPE, LLDPE) a rubber (e.g. EPDM, EVA) or a combination of the two.

Cuspates are commonly used as a component in a geocomposite, in conjunction with a geotextile filter, in applications like gas protection systems, cut off walls around contaminated land, rear of bridge abutments and retaining walls, and around buried structures.