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The usage of transparent materials could give a futuristic and minimalistic touch to your building, as well as making the room appear larger. This material is usually applied to windows, room divider doors, and furnitures such as tables. When it comes to choosing transparent materials, most people would go for glass. In fact, glass is not the only transparent material that could be used in building constructions. Plastic material such as polycarbonate can be a good transparent material alternative.
Polycarbonate is a type of plastic that could easily be processed into various shapes using thermal or heat energy. This material has been founded since 1898, but it was not patented until 1953. It is now put into use in various modern chemical industries. Polycarbonate plastic resin pellets could be processed into various forms. One of the most common form is polycarbonate sheets.
Polycarbonate sheet is a flexible building material, because it is available in various shapes and thickness. Moreover, polycarbonate sheet is also available in different textures, such as flat, corrugated, and multiwall polycarbonate sheets. These textured sheets have different thickness level. Corrugated polycarbonate sheet usually has 0,8 mm thickness level, while flat polycarbonate sheet has around 1,1 mm. Multiwall polycarbonate sheet has a more diverse thickness level, varying from 5 to 16 mm.
Polycarbonate is also a quite strong material, even stronger than glass. This characteristic makes polycarbonate a good alternative to replace glass in building constructions. Polycarbonate has high resistance towards heat, and if it is burned, the melt would not spread to other areas. Polycarbonate is also a lightweight material, because each square meter of polycarbonate weighs only 1,2 kg. Besides, this material is quite affordable, recyclable, and could be easily formed and applied. This material is available in various colors, ranging from transparent and neutral colors to bright colors such as red, green, and blue, which makes it adjustable with different building types and concepts.
Its strong characteristics makes polycarbonate often used as a base material for airplanes, police shield, machine casing, billboard, lens, and building construction. In building construction field, polycarbonate is most oftenly used as roofing material, especially garage roof and room partition. However, polycarbonate sheets that are usually used for roofing and room partition are not transparent, but colored sheets. Beside as a roofing material, polycarbonate could also be used for stairsteps, furnitures, flooring, as well as doors and windows. Polycarbonate sheets that are used for window construction is usually transparent, because the appearance is similar to glass.
Even though polycarbonate has a lot of advantages, this material also has its own disadvantages. This material is quite hard to clean and is vulnerable to mould attack. Those disadvantages should be taken into consideration as well because you could not carelessly choose an alternative building material. Beside alternative building material, the main material used during construction also should be considered well, such as cement. The quality of main construction material has a huge impact on the building’s final result and its durability. Use premium quality cement such as Semen Merah Putih for a stronger and more durable building. |
