Polycarbonate panels

• The enclosure frames are fitted with 10mm cellular or 4mm solid polycarbonate panels. We use cellular polycarbonate with two or three walls (four walls by order). Triple-walled polycarbonate has around 9% better insulation properties than the double-walled material.

• The polycarbonate panels act like a greenhouse. Direct exposure to the sun's rays or, on cloudy days, the effect of diffused rays warms the air within the enclosure. At night or on cool, cloudy days the heat of the enclosed atmosphere is slowly lost.

• The external surface of the polycarbonate has a layer of high-quality UV absorber, which blocks harmful UV radiation and prevents discoloration, crumbling and weakening.

• There are six colours of transparent polycarbonate available: clear, green, light blue, blue, milky and brown.

• We also offer special transparent polycarbonate with a NO DROP (Bayer GmbH) or DRIPGUARD (GE Plastics Ltd.) layer, which stops water vapour from dripping from the roof of the enclosure; instead it simply runs down to the ground along the inner surface of the wall. NO DROP or DRIPGUARD polycarbonate is used especially on large enclosures.

• An innovation introduced in 2004 is the use of self-cleaning EASY CLEAN polycarbonate panels, with unique UV protection on both sides, made by GE Plastic Ltd. (LEXANâ Thermoclearâ Easy Clean).

• LEXAN Thermoclear Easy Clean sheet features a special coating on the outside surface that provides self-cleaning properties. These Easy Clean properties wash away any dirt each time it rains! It reduces your cleaning costs and provides long term light transmission.

• 4mm thick solid polycarbonate panels (made by Palsund Ltd., United Kingdom) have much better optical properties than cellular polycarbonate. They can be used either throughout the structure or only in selected parts of the enclosure (for example, for the end walls or one chosen wall).
  
  

  Features

  High strength in relation to its weight
  Good insulating properties due to its multi-wall structure (up to 60% better than glass plates)
  High level of sound damping – up to 25dB(A)
  Impact Resistance (for example, by footballs or blizzards) – 200 times better than glass
  Excellent Weatherability
  Fair Abrasion Resistance
  Excellent Temperature Resistance
  Good Chemical Resistance
  Excellent Degrees of Light Transmission
  Flammability Resistance
  Excellent Clarity
  UV resistant (surface UV filter)

• Physical properties of polycarbonate panels:

  Polycarbonate panels	10 mm twin-wall	10 mm triple-wall
  approximate weight (g/m2)	1700	1850
  transparency (%) :
  ·   polycarbonate: clear ·   green ·   blue ·   brown ·   milky	80 40 40 46 66	76 36 36 46 60
  heat penetration factor (W/m2/K)	3.2	2.7

  Polycarbonate manufacturers  (GE Plastics or Bayer GmbH) give a 10 year warranty    

  Solid polycarbonate

  • Solid polycabonate has much better optical properties than cellular polycarbonate, but weaker thermal insulation properties.

  • The basic Oceanic and Riviera designs have side and end walls made of solid polycarbonate.

  • The solid polycarbonate wall of Oceanic and Riviera enclosures has two sharp angles.