Texlon^® ETFE

Sustainability is central to our philosophy and influences every aspect of the design of Texlon^® ETFE cladding technology.

Vector Foiltec is committed to developing and delivering methods that add economic, environmental and social value to communities and industries.

The use of Texlon^® ETFE offers significant environmental benefits when compared to alternative transparent cladding systems. This is true whether it is used for new buildings or refurbishment projects. The low levels of embodied energy and outstanding environmental benefits result in ecologically benign building envelopes. Choosing Texlon^® ETFE can facilitate a reduction in requirements for artificial lighting, environmental control and the mass of supporting structures, while allowing for a faster installation compared to similar glazed systems.

Texlon^® inflated panels that have reached the end of their useful phase, and ETFE offcuts are recycled. The material is made into valves and other small components that are used in the manufacture of new ETFE systems. The aluminium cap and base profiles can be re-used for new buildings and refurbishment projects or recycled.

Following two years of empirical data collection, comprehensive life cycle analysis and third party evaluation, the Texlon^® ETFE system was the first ETFE System in the world to be awarded an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Our efforts have been recognised by the Eco Platform which promote EPDs in European and international markets.

We pride ourselves on being the only ETFE manufacturer in the world with an independently-verified EPD.

The proven design life of Texlon^® ETFE inflated cladding systems, maintained in accordance with good industry practice, is in excess of 30+ years. However, a well-maintained installation has an anticipated design life in excess of 50+ years.

The lifespan of any product results in the

• Quality-/Lifespan of the materials the product is made from
• Design and manufacturing quality

ETFE foil is not affected by UV light, atmospheric pollution or other forms of environmental weathering. It has been subject to extensive field and laboratory testing and shows no adverse signs of aging, discoloration or embrittlement. Long-term weathering tests in Arizona and Florida concluded that the foil did not show any signs of degradation or loss of mechanical strength.

Recent empirical Raman spectroscopy testing compared chemical, mechanical, optical properties and tensile strength of archived ETFE foil samples dating back to the original production lots in 1982 with actual samples that had formed part of the installation and new ETFE samples. These tests concluded that the mechanical and optical properties of all foils were almost identical.

Design Related Durability

It is common knowledge that even with traditional materials, such as glass, the life expactency of the end product is not only defined by the material quality, but also by design intent. Although glass seems to last forever, similar to ETFE, a glass roof has an average life expectancy of appr. 20 - 25 years. It is not the core materials, but the components of the system that fail.  

The most common compenent of the glass system to fail is the gaskets. With Vector Foiltec‘s unique design approach to cope with movements (be they temperature or load induced), we avoid or minimize any relative movement between the Texlon^® ETFE foils and other materials within the system. As a result we are reducing the failure rate of gaskets dramatically.

Vector Foiltec‘s specific approach when dealing with the corners and edges of the ETFE elements are another reason for the very long life expectancy of a Texlon^® roofing system.

The top picture shows Stefan Lehnert on our very first project: the Mangrove Hall at Arnhem Zoo, built in 1982. The picture at the bottom shows Stefan and Philipp Lehnert on the former mangrove hall from 1982. The new, larger Mangrove hall from 2017 is already in the background.

Transparent is the New Green.

Did you know that zoos experience better plant growth under a transparent Texlon^® system? One of our clients managed to triple their visitor numbers in only one year. A concept built on open space, and large luxurious enclosures, close to the natural habitat of the animals, along with a building envelope which allows the plants to grow fast and healthy without the use of pesticides.

ETFE and its transparent qualities allow it to kill fungi within an enclosed building. ETFE permits the transmission of all wavelengths of visible light - UV light included. Most other materials like glass or acrylic glass work like a shield and block UV-rays. ETFE foil is capable of letting the outside in!

Both pictures on the right show highly transparent projects: The one on the top is a giant tropical hall at Zoo Leipzig, Germany, the other one an office atrium in Frankfurt, Germany. Image copyrights © Andreas Braun.

Create something new and outstanding.

We offer the whole package: LED lights with eye-catching illumination effects, a variety of structures such as steel, cables or wood, extraordinary long spans and unique sizes and shapes.

We facilitate the most advanced architectural solutions and have helped hundreds of architects to create their ideas, develop their dreams and establish landmarks.

ETFE’s high tensile strength, resistance to tearing, excellent light transparency, and low flammability make it ideally suited for architectural applications. The Texlon^® ETFE technology enables new design and engineering approaches and is an excellent alternative to glass.

The shopping mall "Médiacité" in Belgium features pigmented red foils and individual shapes.

Right out of a movie, a building on wheels. The moveable membrane structure "The Shed" is located in the middle of New York City and hosts the who's who of all cultural disciplines. Image copyrights, top to bottom: © Mar Detiffe and © Timothy Schenck

Looking for a lightweight and durable cladding material?

ETFE is a flexible and lightweight solution for many buildings. Whether it is being used as building envelope, roof or façade: The thin, but strong, material suits every design.

It is our goal to work with you towards optimizing your project's structure. Let’s take a steel structure as an example. When building with glass, you need much more steel just to hold the heavy glass panels up. With ETFE, we often manage to minimize the weight of the steel by an astonishing 7 times. Our specially trained designers focus on creating efficient and lightweight structures with a impressive free span – often without disturbing columns.

For some of our projects you can state, that the structure plus the ETFE cladding weights less than the air that the building envelope contains (for example the Eden Project). ETFE allows the structure to flex more than with any other cladding material because of the elasticity of the Texlon^® system.

A US project which gained popularity for its lightweight design is “The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center - ARTIC”. The building won multiple awards for its outstanding sustainability due to the minimal use of steel. The pictures on the right also show the translucence of our printed foils.

The atrium of the "Oval am Baseler Platz" office building in Frankfurt am Main is another impressive lightweight.

Image copyrights (top to bottom): © John Linden, Andreas Braun Hameln.

When selecting cladding materials it is important to consider acoustic performance criteria.

When sounds are produced in an enclosed space, the reflection of those sounds from the surrounding surfaces until the sound waves eventually dissipate is referred to as reverberation. Texlon^® ETFE is an acoustically transparent material with a mass of less than 1kg/m². This means that sound generated by building occupants passes through the ETFE foil and is not reflected back into the space below, unlike less acoustically transparent materials such as glass.

The time it takes for any individual sound generated in an enclosed space to effectively dissipate is referred to as the ‘reverberation time’. The desired reverberation time for any particular space depends on its proposed function and activities that may take place in that space. Texlon^® ETFE cladding, in combination with both harder and more absorbent materials, which are typically employed to form internal building surfaces, can assist in ensuring that the correct reverberation time for intended usage can be achieved.

Like other cladding materials, rainfall on the outer surface of the ETFE panels will generate some noise. Rain noise can be intrusive in spaces where there is a requirement for minimal background noise, such as certain offices, call centres and libraries.

If rain noise is found to be problematic, noise intensity can be easily minimized by installing a patented Texlon^® RS rain suppression mesh. The mesh is made from fluoropolymer monofilament fibers or fabrics with a weave diameter typically measuring 20mm to 40mm. It is held under tension across the external surface of each panel and traps a buffering layer of incident rain thereby increasing surface mass and consequently reducing both sound generation and transmission.  Tests have demonstrated that the mesh decreases noise levels by 9.7 dB which equates to a 50% noise reduction to the human ear.

The rain suppression mesh will result in a small reduction in light transmission by 5%-10%.

Rain noise has only been found to be a problem requiring remedy in a very small number of buildings for which Texlon^® ETFE cladding forms part of the building envelope. As rain suppressor mesh can be easily retrofitted to any installation, we would not recommend its inclusion in standard cladding specifications.

Printing Technology Expertise.

Selecting foils and treatments that improve the solar control of a building envelope in any given environment is a specialised discipline.

Texlon^® ETFE is an extremely transparent material, the light transmission of a single layer of foil ranges from 88%-95% over the entire solar spectrum. A 200μm ETFE foil is almost 20% more transparent than a 3 mm pane of float glass. It is possible to change the aesthetic and thermal performance of the Texlon^® system by applying printing and by introducing additional layers of foil. These methods will all help improve comfort levels inside of a building. The occupants are shielded from heat gain, IR and harmful UV radiation, while simultaneously enjoying natural daylight.

ETFE foils are traditionally printed with silver colored pigments because these reflects the solar radiation better than other colours. The foils are available in three shades of silver – light, medium and dark. Modified graphic patterns can be designed upon request.

The Texlon^® Vario system overlaps graphics on two or more layers of foil. It is possible to change the aesthetic, insulation and thermal performance by pneumatically arranging the layers. Graphic templates must meet geometrical patterning requirements.

Solar control is the reduction of the amount of solar energy passing through the Texlon^® system, visible light transmission, re-radiated heat gain or loss and convection. The most important terms used to measure solar control and thermal comfort are:

Light Transmission (Tvis): the portion of incident visible light in the spectral distribution range between 380 and 780 nm that passes directly through the element (e.g. glazing or ETFE) into the building. It is expressed as a percentage in accordance with EN 410.

g-value: the total amount of solar energy that enters the inside of a building by reflection, absorption and re-radiation in the wavelength range between 300 nm and 2500 nm. It is sometimes referred to as Solar Factor or Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC). A low g-value indicates high comfort levels inside a building.

The pictures on the right show "The Avenues", a shopping mall in Kuwait and "Sentosa Resort World", an amusement park in Singapore. Both projects were built with advanced solar control concepts. Image copyrights, top to bottom: © Nick Merrick of Hedrich Blessing and © Sentosa Resort World.

Fire safety is one of the most critical design considerations when selecting building materials.

The choice of materials must ensure an adequate level of safety and conform to all applicable fire safety standards.

In the unfortunate event of a fire it is essential to restrict the generation and spread of flames and smoke within the building and to any neighbouring buildings. The propensity of a material to contribute to “fire propagation” is a function of the rate of heat generated by the material in question and the spread of flame by that material. The principle consideration of fire safety design should be the safe exit of building occupants and the safety of firefighting teams.

Texlon^® ETFE foil is a safe building material that is principally employed in the formation of building envelopes.

ETFE has a melting point of approximately 260°C. In the event of a fire it does not promote the spread of flames because it self-extinguishes and does not generate any flaming droplets or particles.

If hot gases or flames come into contact with ETFE cladding, forming part of the building envelope, it will melt and shrink back from the area affected allowing hot gases and smoke to be vented from the building. 

The venting of internal spaces consequent to this effect can contribute to the overall fire safety of a building complex.

What a view! Spectacular fireworks frame the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center in Kazakhstan and the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. Image copyrights, top to bottom: © Nigel Young, Foster & Partners, © Getty Images

Texlon^® ETFE foils and cushions are very durable and require minimal maintenance

It is recommended to maintain the complete system regularly. As one of the most stable chemical compounds, ETFE is very temperature resistant and very resistant to environmental influences. The material hardly absorbs short-wave UV radiation, so it does not become brittle. In combination with its very good UV resistance, it is therefore very durable.

Dirt does not adhere to the material because the surfaces of the foil cushions are extremely smooth. Internal cleaning is required five to ten times less often than with classic transparent materials. With natural acts of rain, the outer surface cleans itself, and in sandy or dusty environments, the low surface tension of the ETFE cushions prevents dirt and dust from adhering to the surface.

ETFE is resistant to damage, because ETFE films are pre-tensioned with air pressure and solidify under tensile stress. Sharp objects can penetrate the material, but its high tear resistance prevents a hole from becoming a crack. Because each cushion is separately connected to the air supply, the damage is locally limited and the function of the building is maintained. A repair kit is available for minor damage, the cushions can be repaired on site without replacement.

The top image shows one of our skilled rope access technicians in action on our roof at Zoo Leipzig, the bottom image shows the roof frome above (Image copyrights, top to bottom © Holger Lucke, © Henchion+Reuter)