Polymers as Building Construction Materials

The use of synthetic polymers in building and construction is also increasing at a rapid rate. Flooring is a mixture of wood, synthetic and clad wood, carpet, and tile, all polymeric. While carpets were once derived from natural materials such as cotton and wool, today almost all of them are derived from synthetic polymers and include nylon, polyester, olefins, and polyacrylonitrile. 

ETFE-foils as a fluorine-polymer material differ fundamentally from textile membrane materials in terms of their thermal-mechanical as well as building-physics behaviour. This chapter first introduces the construction forms and variants of ETFE-foil structures and provides an overview of the development of ETFE-foil constructions from an architectural perspective. Subsequently, the morphological structure of ETFE and the manufacturing process as well as the material behaviour and load-bearing characteristics of ETFE-foils are outlined. The final section discusses future development potentials and the future use of ETFE-foil constructions in structural engineering. 

Thermoplastic rubber is a relatively new class of polymer. It has the solubility and thermoplasticity of polystyrene, while at ambient temperatures it has the toughness and resilience of vulcanized natural rubber or polybutadiene. These rubbers are actually block copolymers. The simplest form consists of a rubbery mid-block with two plastic end blocks (A-B-A), as shown in Figure 5.7. Examples of commercial products are Kraton and Solprene . These materials are often compounded with plasticizers to decrease hardness and modulus, eliminate drawing, enhance pressure-sensitive tack, improve low-temperature flexibility, reduce melt and solution viscosity, decrease cohesive strength or increase plasticity if desired, and substantially lower material costs. Low levels of thermoplastic rubbers are sometimes added to other rubber adhesives. These materials are used as components in the following applications PSAs, hot-melt adhesives, heat-activated-assembly adhesives, contact adhesives, reactive contact adhesives, building construction adhesives, sealants, and binders. Two common varieties of thermoplastic rubber adhesives are styrene-butadiene-styrene (S-B-S) and styrene-isoprene-styrene (S-I-S). ... 

---