From aiding the acceleration of cars to accelerating the height of megastructures. Can the intrinsic quality of plastic composites really be helping us build higher and faster?

The ability to build stronger and more robust under-the-hood car parts such as those created in their millions by ADIS Tachov s.r.o. appear to be fuelling more than just the auto industry. Using essentially the same genre of fiber-reinforced polymers as those used in quality-critical car parts, these composites are gaining popularity in many industries, including aerospace and elevator cables for high rise buildings.

Celebrated for their lightweight properties, corrosion resistance, and strength, FRPs are made by combining tough plastics with strong fibers such as carbon to produce lighter yet stronger parts.

It was broadcast that this approach, now very familiar in companies like ADIS who have worked to provide exceptional quality reinforced parts for many years, is being used in the format of an 'Ultrarope' in elevator cables. Traditionally made from steel and heavy by nature, these properties often limit how high skyscrapers can be built given that beyond a certain length, steel elevator cable becomes too heavy to move the elevator and risk snapping.

Made with carbon fiber and a polyurethane coating and the combination of epoxy, polyester, phenoic and vinyl ester resins, this material is an estimated 90% lighter than steel cables, leaving architects free to design taller buildings without the physical limitations of very long, heavy steel elevator cables.

In use since the 1960's in more basic formats, more traditionally binding plastic and fiberglass for strength, FRPs have long been hailed as the super material given their ability to be molded to almost any shape while remaining highly durable. And while Adis may not be building the next Burj Khalifa or chasing unfathomably high elevation, such wide uses of plastic certainly helps to demonstrate what science at a molecular level can deliver across many industries.