«Karbosnab» has reported the arrival on the Ukrainian market of a façade window infilled with polycarbonate. It is a Rodeca (Germany) façade window. It was created for impact-resistant façades, so that the window appears as a single plane with a polycarbonate façade. The company notes that the frames can be installed flush with the outer side of the Rodeca façade.
The system was designed specifically to integrate the window into a polycarbonate façade. Rodeca aluminium windows were developed for Rodeca façades with perimeter fastening of the elements.
Rodeca offers the Series 85 aluminium profile with a thermal break. Karbosnab can manufacture façade windows with polycarbonate infills 30 or 40 mm thick. Such windows are suitable for non-fragmenting glazing in office, retail and industrial buildings.
Due to Russian aggression, polycarbonate as a material is also of interest from the perspective of blast resistance. Polycarbonate is a highly viscous, impact-resistant thermoplastic, and its mechanical behaviour differs fundamentally from glass. In an explosion it acts like a membrane, stretching and absorbing the energy of the blast wave. Whereas the main hazard from glass is the scattering of sharp fragments, for polycarbonate it is the detachment of the panel. However, windows with polycarbonate infills should not be regarded as blast-resistant, as the entire assembly must be assessed, including the profile, infill, fixings and installation, etc. And only testing can show how a glazed structure will behave during an explosion.
Read more about testing in the article “What has been done in Ukraine regarding testing windows for blast resistance” on OKNA.ua.