ETFE Air Pillow Film Structure

Double ETFE film covering forming a air-pillow structure. Custom-designed structures supported by our self-manufacured steel frames.

What is ETFE membrane?
Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a polymer with a high melting temperature threshold, excellent radiation, electrical and chemical resistance properties. It is durable, highly transparent and very lightweight in comparison to glass structures.

Advantages:
1. Super Lightweight - The ETFE film incorporates materials that give it an impressive lightness. It allows you to require less structural steel to support the ETFE film hence resulting into a much lighter, but strong structures. In addition this ETFE roofing puts less stress loading on the building, meaning structural steel works can be lessened as the main building can usual act as support. 
2. Durable and Self-Cleaning - Whether it is exposed to chemical, thermal, or physical destructive elements; ETFE is structurally resistant, and can perfectly withstand the shock. Research shows that the ETFE film has the ability to retain its strength for more than 35 years whilst at the same time retaining its transparency and self-cleaning properties.
3. Excellent Insulation Performance - ETFE can either be used in a single, double or triple layer model, with each option giving it outstanding insulation properties. During the colder seasons, structures built with ETFE retain heat whilst in summer months the same structures keep off heat from entering into the indoor space below.  Depending upon which Thermal Value is required, the ETFE roof design can be manipulated to achieve as little as 0.1W/m2k U-values for a roof. This is practically impossible for glazed roofing.
4. Solar Control - An ETFE installation although transparent and excellent in light transmission, can be manipulated using a variety of techniques, so as to give it tremendous solar control features. Among the techniques used to achieve this include performance printing also referred to as fritting, tinting, surface treatments, radiation and the addition of extra layers of EFTE foil so as to minimize light transmission and control solar gain. This makes ETFE foil one of the most thermally controllable tensile fabrics on the market.
5. Eco-Friendliness - Unlike other artificial materials, ETFE is a 100 percent recyclable polymer. When it has served its term, it can be removed and recycled back into beneficial ETFE products such as tubing, castings or wires. Being a lightweight fabric, ETFE requires less fabrication and transports costs and this reduces its carbon footprint.
6. Natural Day Light - Most of us believe that pure glass is 100% clear and provides us with almost perfect natural light transmission. Well you would be in the majority if you thought so; actually glass can block out as much as 38% of natural day light. This means glazed roofs can require artificial lighting during daylight hours. A single layer of ETFE membrane fabric can actually allow up to 92% of natural day light to penetrate to the room below, increasing internal lighting for the buildings occupants. This is now known to help with Seasonal Adjustment Disorder (SAD). As such more and more designers and architects are choosing to use ETFE for roofing in buildings such as Schools, Shopping Centres and office blocks where SAD in known to diversely affect learning and shopping habits, as well as employee productivity rates.
7. Reduced lighting costs, fire resistance, and elasticity which reach up to 600 percent at breaking point.

"Liquid Glass"
The ETFE films or foils have a density of 1.012 ounce per cubic inch. Unlike conventional glass, ETFE liquid glass has a surface with a low coefficient of friction making it very difficult for dirt or dust to stick onto the film. Being UV transparent, this material does not discolor or weaken structurally over time; which is why it has one of the highest life expectancies than any other tensile membrane fabric.
In terms of construction technology, ETFE can be single-layered, double-layered, or even triple-layered. In the single-layered form, the film is reinforced with lightweight steel, wire cables or aluminium tracks in order to maintain its shape and stability. In the double or triple-layered construction, the ETFE liquid glass incorporates a pneumatic system responsible for maintaining air between two or three layers of foil attached in aluminium extrusions and firmly supported by a lightweight structure hence creating inflated cushions.
On average, the ETFE material is reported to last more than 50 years and is unaffected by atmospheric pollution, UV light and other types of environmental weathering.


Sample picture details:
Sea Cube (Macao)