BASF’s
specialty foam Basotect® is being used in the Beijing swimming stadium in
order to clad the interior of the building with flame-retardant and environmentally
friendly acoustic insulation. The National Aquatics Center has been fitted with
a specially developed ceiling structure made of large Basotect panels that not
only provide sound protection but fulfill additional prerequisites: The lightweight
panels blend in with the architectural design and meet the environmental requirements.
They are load-bearing, flame-retardant and able to withstand high levels of
humidity.<
Novel and invisible cladding construction The BASF melamine resin foam stands out for its extraordinary acoustic properties.
Thanks to its open-cell and fine foam structure, the sound-absorption values
in the medium and high frequency ranges are particularly good. Moreover, the
lightweight material is easy to process. For instance, the ventilation conduits
under the ceiling were wrapped in such a way that the suspension structure for
the cladding is not visible.
The installation is made of Basotect panels of different sizes, some of which
span more than two meters. Securing these panels over such a distance called
for their reinforcement with tubes. This resulted in a novel construction that
is sufficiently stiff and can expand in response to temperature fluctuations.
The entire installation was tested for its load-bearing capacity, sound protection
and fire safety in a series of examinations. The company Entech, Shanghai has
processed the Basotect panels for this purpose. The National Aquatics Center, which has been dubbed the "Water Cube"
because of its shape, can seat 17,000 spectators. The first competitions to
take place in the stadium were the swimming competitions of the Olympic Games
in 2008.
Basotect, the jack-of-all-trades
Thanks to its favorable properties – Basotect is temperature-resistant,
flame-retardant, extraordinarily lightweight, flexible, sound-absorbing and
thermally insulating – the foam has long been used to acoustically insulate
buildings and vehicles. It is now available in several grades for various applications.
For example, it protects the sensitive satellites that the Ariane 5 launcher
delivers into space. Since 2004, the versatile foam has been employed in fireproof
airplane seats and will soon be used as cabin insulation in the new Dreamliner
787 by the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
Posted February 20th, 2009
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