Recycled glass returns to show off its infinite potential. A team of engineers from Australia RMIT University, in collaboration with materials technology company Livefield, has indeed worked on a composite cladding, economical, sustainable, structurally robust and resistant to water and fire; capable of reducing the huge amount of glass that is still not properly disposed of, lying unused in landfills.
Not just recycled glass
These coatings are composed for the83% recycled glass, combined with relatively low doses of polymer binders and fire retardant additives.
La Research demonstrated how panels produced with this blend can meet structural and environmental requirements, as well as key non-combustibility compliance standards in Australia.
Tests on the composite material have reported better performance than that recorded by traditional glass. The reason? The addition of the polymer binders it guarantees greater strength and a lower predisposition to breakage.
The sustainability challenge
According to Dilan Robert, associate professor at RMIT University, this innovative technology, based on recycled glass, will make a significant contribution to the recycling chain, going to intercept the huge amount of reusable material, which ends up unnecessarily in landfills every year. Research thus accentuates the value of recycling as a guarantor of multiple benefits: environmental, economic and social.
A fireproof innovation
However, sustainability is not the only objective underlying the research. There safety fire prevention it is in fact the catalyst element of the study. In high-rise buildings, cladding plays a key role in the prevention of fire spread. Building fires, such as the one at London's Grenfell tower in 2017, have shaken consciences and highlighted the importance of designing fire retardant cladding systems for the building sector.
Fires can occur anywhere and at any time, without any possibility of prediction, but can be successfully contained thanks to the incorporation of fire safety requirements in the design of buildings.
Sources: rmit.edu.au, renewable.it
