Sandwich panels &#; what should you know?

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How much do they cost, what is the best way to install them, and where are they the cheapest? A short introductory guide to thermal insulation sandwich panels.

Sandwich panels &#; what should you know?

What is a sandwich panel?

A sandwich panel is a product used to clad the walls and roofs of buildings. Each panel comprises a core of thermoinsulating material, skinned on both sides with sheet metal. Sandwich panels are not structural materials but curtain materials. The structural forces are carried by the steel framework or other carrier frame to which the sandwich panels are attached.

The types of sandwich panel are generally grouped by the thermoinsulating material used as the core. Sandwich panels with cores of EPS (expanded polystyrene), mineral wool and polyurethane (PIR, or polyisocyanurate) are all readily available.

The materials mainly vary in their thermal insulating performance, sound insulating performance, reaction to fire and weight.

Why use sandwich panels anyway?

Sandwich panels are widely acclaimed due to a number of benefits, mainly those related to cost. Comparisons between frame or stud partition technology (frames lined with sandwich panels) and traditional building technologies based on masonry walls reveal advantages of sandwich panels in three key areas:

1. Direct costs

Construction of a building in either technology requires similar capital expenditure levels.
The comparison in this area includes the costs of construction materials, labour and shipping.

2. Construction time

A building based on a traditional masonry process may take 6 to 7 months to complete.
A building of the same volume utilising stud partitions takes just 1 month to complete.
The construction time is business-critical. The sooner a production building or warehouse is commissioned for use, the sooner a return on the investment can be achieved.

Stud partition buildings are assembled rather than &#;built&#;. The finished structural parts and cladding components arrive on site, and are then assembled like a house of toy bricks. Another plus is that there is no need to wait for the building shell to lose excess moisture.

3. Construction processes

In some sectors of industry, the construction requirements can be critical for a building project. Stud partition construction is a &#;dry process&#;, with no water needed for the construction materials. A dry process requires only the assembly of the structure and fixing of the cladding (here, the sandwich panels) with screws.

Traditional masonry construction uses &#;wet processes&#;, which require significant amounts of water to make the mortar for bricklaying, concrete for casting or the plaster for rendering.

Some sectors of industry, like wood processing or pharmaceutical manufacture, require fixed and controlled relative humidity levels, which preclude wet construction processes.

How much do sandwich panels cost, and where are they the cheapest?

The cost of purchase depends on the overall product thickness and its thermoinsulating core material. A &#;budget option&#; is the use of EPS-core sandwich panels; however, for better long-term performance and cost effectiveness, panels with superior thermal conductivity coefficient are a better choice - such as PIR-core sandwich panels.

The pricing begins at 55&#;60 PLN/m2 for thin EPS-core sandwich panels. The most popular PIR-core sandwich panels are 100 mm thick, and cost about 80&#;90 PLN/m2.

Customers often ask about the VAT rate for sandwich panels. In Poland, all construction materials, including sandwich panels, have a 23% VAT rate.

It is best to order your sandwich panels directly from the manufacturer or through their distribution chain. You can request Balex Metal's regional sales representatives to visit your site for professional advice concerning the best processes and materials. Having examined your requirements, the sales representative can quickly supply you with a custom quote. Customer care by the sales representatives aside, you can get support from Balex Metal's design engineers or technical consultants at every stage of project delivery.

How are sandwich panels installed on a wall or a roof?

Sandwich panels are easy and quick to install. From practical experience, installing 600 m2 of sandwich panels takes approximately 8 hours for a proficient construction crew.

The steps to install wall and roof sandwich panels are as follows:

1. The construction materials are delivered to the site: the delivery includes sandwich panels, the subframe components (cold-formed shapes), and accessories (including flashing, fasteners, gaskets, seals, etc.). Balex Metal can provide all the components required to complete the installation process.

2. The materials delivered by the carrier are unloaded with construction handling equipment.

3. The subframes are assembled, and installed with beams, posts and purlins.

4. The protective film is removed from the sandwich panels.

5. The sandwich panels are fastened to the subframe structural members using suitable fasteners.

6. The joints between the sandwich panels are sealed and the flashing is installed.

How many screws do I need to fasten a sandwich panel? This is the most common question from customers at the project preparation stage. A rough estimate is 1.1 fasteners per square metre of sandwich panels. The actual number, spacing and layout depend on the decision of the project design engineer and/or the construction material supplier.

Learn more about installing sandwich panels:

Any type of sandwich panel will do as cladding for walls and roofs. Depending on the project needs, the cladding may include:

Sandwich panels can be utilised in all structure types. Your imagination is the limit. However, while sandwich panels are generally used in industrial applications, some housing projects also use stud partitions and sandwich panels.

Given the short installation time and large unit coverage, sandwich panels are most popular in constructing:

• Warehouse buildings
• Logistic hubs
• Sports facilities
• Cold stores and freezers
• Shopping malls
• Manufacturing buildings
• Office buildings

Sandwich panels can be combined with other structural solutions. A popular option is to install the panels as external cladding for the outer walls of shopping malls, including sandwich-layered roofing structures: box profile sheets, thermal insulation (e.g. Thermano PIR-core sandwich panels), and a waterproof membrane.

For more sandwich panel chinainformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

Sandwich panels are a type of composite structure that is commonly used in aerospace, marine, and automotive applications where strength or stiffness is required, but weight is a critical component.

How do sandwich panels work?

A sandwich panel works by inserting a lightweight core material between two thin, stiff facesheets. If the whole sandwich panel deforms it behaves as a composite material that is stronger than the sum of its parts.

The composite parts work together by having the thin (yet stiff) faces resist bending, while the thick (yet compliant) core absorbs any deformation from shearing or sliding. But the stiffness and strength of the panel depends not only on the stiffness of the faces, but also the thickness of the core. When the stiff skins are bonded to a core, it keeps the skins separated from each other, massively increasing the overall bending stiffness of the sandwich panel structure without appreciably increasing the weight.

Core and skin materials

The core should be lightweight and the skins should be stiff. Ideally, core and skins should be able to be bonded together easily. Often a foam or honeycomb material made of thermoplastic polymer is used as the lightweight core, and stiffer products like steel and fiber-reinforced materials are used for the skins.

The importance of stiffness - to - weight in a sandwich panel

A sandwich panel makes efficient use of material by placing stiff components where they are needed most - in this case, on either side of the core - and lessening weight everywhere else.

To visualize this efficiency, imagine making a series of sandwich panels with aluminum skins and a lightweight foam core., The skins are always the same thickness, but we'll adjust the core by cutting our foam to different thicknesses.

If there is no foam at all, then we can see the stiffness for the two skins is at 1. By adding foam between, both the weight and stiffness increase, but crucially, the stiffness-to-weight ratio increases dramatically as the panel gets thicker.

How to choose the right materials for sandwich panel cores and skins

This question can be hard to answer, since it depends on your application. So let's use a concrete example.

For semi-trailer transportation, weight is king - but the walls of a dry van still need to be stiff enough to bear the load it carries and potentially hold up to curveballs like strong winds, falling cargo, or errant forklifts.

We'll need to choose a sandwich panel with the right stiffness for the job, and it turns out that there are many different skin and core thickness options that all give the same stiffness.

To get the best panel for our semi-trailer, we need to optimize the combination of skins and core that gives the lightest sandwich without sacrificing stiffness. If multiple types of material can be considered for both skins and core, then our problem becomes even more involved, but still tractable.

Building an optimal sandwich panel sounds easy enough. What's the catch?

Sandwich panels rely on continued bonding between the skins and core to remain effective. Often the compliant core material is the weak point, and will fracture long before the adhesive bond or the skins fail. One problem with using lightweight foams is that they are relatively weak, so sometimes honeycomb cores are used instead to get a boost in strength. Unfortunately, honeycomb also suffers drawbacks as it is more difficult to bond to the skins and, when deformed, it has a natural tendency to peel away from the skins in a process called delamination.

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