How many protective films are there on polycarbonate. Cellular polycarbonate

There is a special coating to protect the plastic panels from damage during loading and unloading, transportation and assembly. At the end of the installation work, it is recommended to remove it. Otherwise, under the influence of solar heat, the film heats up until it melts and "sticks" to the surface of the sheet. After that, it is quite difficult to remove it.

This often happens after installation in the summer. A protective layer that is not removed in time causes a lot of trouble. For example, in winter snow will accumulate on this one - it slides well only from clean polycarbonate sheets.

What to do if the coating "stuck"

The film can bond very strongly with polycarbonate. In this case, it is better to do nothing. Some people try to warm up the film (for example, with a regular hair dryer). But this leads to the fact that it only adheres more strongly to polycarbonate.

All you can do is wait. One season after installation, the film itself will move away from the outside. But for it to be easy to remove inside, it will take time. It is not recommended to scrape or scratch the polycarbonate surface - otherwise it is easy to damage the material.

Caution: UV protection

There may be another layer on the panels. It protects against UV rays and can be easily damaged too. Then the surface of the sheets will become cloudy, cracks will appear on it.

How do you know where the UV protective layer is? It is necessary to inspect the packaging with cellular polycarbonate. Where the plates are equipped with UV protection, there are always inscriptions, service pictograms. It is with this marked side that polycarbonate faces the sun during installation. By the way, the UV layer is invisible, and it is impossible to accidentally remove it together with the transport film (only if it "sticks").

We shoot on time and accurately

There is also a coating on the inside of the sheets. It is usually completely transparent. It also needs to be removed - then the polycarbonate will better transmit light. If this inner protective layer is left on, it will deteriorate over time, affecting the appearance of the structure.

What can I do to gently peel off the film? Dampen the sheets with lukewarm water mixed with a household detergent, such as kitchen utensils. This will allow you to neatly and without any problems separate the protective film from the polycarbonate.

What is polycarbonate? It is a colorless hard polymer plastic that is used in production in the form of granules. It is strong, lightweight, optically transparent, plastic, frost-resistant, a good dielectric, durable and environmentally friendly. Cellular (otherwise - cellular) polycarbonate is obtained by extrusion; it is a hollow panel with different structure and thickness. These panels are interconnected by special bridges, also called stiffeners. Polycarbonate belongs to the class of synthetic polymers, it is a complex linear polyester of phenols and carbonic acid.

To work with polycarbonate, you will need regular cutting tools.

Despite all its strength, cellular polycarbonate is destroyed under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. Most manufacturers put UV protection in the "ground". But there is also a protective UV-layer, which is applied by coextrusion. This layer ensures the integrity of the sheet under the influence of sunlight. The layer is applied either on two sides, or on only one. Without this protective measure, the real life of cellular polycarbonate will not exceed a couple of years.

How to prepare cellular polycarbonate for work

Before using polycarbonate, you need to unpack it, remove the film and all paper wrappers, process the edges of the tiles with an end tape intended for this purpose. Use perforated tape to protect the downward facing end. And the end facing upwards is treated with an end profile and a sealing tape. You can also use a wide adhesive tape in place of an expensive tape, if in the future it is not supposed to contact the upper end of the polycarbonate plate with the environment. If the upper end is covered with a monolith, then the use of the tape can be completely abandoned. If it has already been applied, then you can safely remove the film. It is not recommended to cover the lower end with anything. Since it must be installed openly, so that condensation can drain off unhindered. Provide additional protection to perforated tape with a U- or L-shaped profile. It must be installed in such a way that a free outlet for condensate can be provided. In this case, it is recommended to use a U-shaped profile with holes 1.5 - 3 mm in diameter, which are located 40-60 cm apart.

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How to remove the film from the surface of a honeycomb polycarbonate sheet

It is recommended to remove the protective film coating from the polycarbonate sheet after all work on its installation, since the purpose of such a film is to protect the surface of the polycarbonate sheet during loading and unloading, during transportation and installation. If you do not remove the film and leave it, then over time, under the influence of solar heat, it will melt and "stick" to the polycarbonate surface of the sheet, it will be quite problematic to remove it. This situation is especially often observed when it is produced in the summer and the protective film layer was not removed immediately.

What can be done if the film coating is welded to the polycarbonate? There are several options for solving this issue. Which one to use, choose yourself, based on the current situation:

There is a special marking on the outside of the sheet

• if the polycarbonate sheets have been stored in the sun for a long time and the film is baked to the surface, then it would be better to leave everything as it is. Do not shoot anything. The film from the outside should come off by itself after one season. On the inside, it will take longer to self-destruct. In no case is it permissible to scrape and scratch the polycarbonate surface - only aggravate the situation by damaging the material. If you scrape off the UV protection side too, you will damage the UV protection as well.

Violation of the integrity of the UV protective layer can negatively affect the light transmission of the sheet. And subsequently this will lead to the fact that the surface becomes cloudy and begins to crack;

By the way, it is quite simple to determine on which side the UV-protective layer is located: the packaging with cellular polycarbonate on the UV-protection side always contains inscriptions or service pictograms. It is not necessary to heat the film coating with anything (for example, some try to heat the film with a hair dryer), it will stick even more;

• if the presence of a film is confirmed by visual inspection, then you can use the following method: wet the surface with ordinary warm water with the addition of a household dishwashing detergent. And slowly begin to remove the film layer.

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What else you need to know when working with polycarbonate

1. In hot sunny weather, cellular polycarbonate is able to thermally expand. For colored polycarbonate, the expansion rate will be 4-5 mm, for transparent - 2-3 mm. The temperature at which it is possible to operate carbonate without reducing its original qualities and properties is from -40 to + 120 ° C. When installing the material, it is important to take these features into account. If the installation is carried out in cool weather, then the plate must be installed farther from the docking profile lock, if it is installed in the heat - very close.
2. The one-piece 4-10 mm profile cannot fully provide reliable. Such profiles cannot be fixed to the battens. Their purpose is to join the edges of vertical structures with a minimum of loads.

The reliability of the tightness of the joints is created by profiles over 10 mm. This will prevent the use of other fasteners.

Docking profiles are mounted on arcs and fastened with self-tapping screws.

After buying polycarbonate, many people ask themselves the question - is it necessary to rip off the film from it after installation, because with it the design looks more colorful and attractive? You can see in some areas of private houses very colorful film coverings, which depict fruits, vegetables or other objects. When a person mounts a structure made of this material for the first time, he is cast into doubts about its beautiful appearance - remove the film or leave it for decoration? On the one hand, the film is pleasing to the eye, and on the other, will it harm you? So the correct answer to this question is, of course, it is necessary, otherwise some problems may arise with the material later. By the way, if you need polycarbonate, follow this link http://unistframe.ru/catalog/monolitnyy-polikarbonat/.

The film on the sheets is exclusively for transportation; it protects their surface during transportation and storage in a warehouse. Once the film has been purchased and installed in its place, it is no longer needed. Sometimes people who are not very knowledgeable in this matter take the transport protective layer for a film designed to protect the sheet from ultraviolet radiation. For reference, the UV-retaining layer is transparent, very difficult to see with the naked eye and very difficult to erase. Therefore, do not worry about removing the UV protection along with the protective film.

Cellular or monolithic polycarbonate from the inside and outside

Cellular or monolithic polycarbonate has an outer surface and an inner one. On the outside, as a rule, the name of the brand, manufacturer, product warranty and data on the available protection against UV rays are applied. This side is always colored, sometimes even decorated with drawings.

If you do not remove this colored film, the dark areas of the pattern applied to it will firmly adhere to the polycarbonate, dismantling the film, covered with rags, darkened and lost all its appearance, becomes quite problematic. In this situation, together with the protective film, the sun protection can also be dismantled, the film will firmly stick to it and damage it. In addition, in winter, it will slow down the snow, while on a clean surface it would easily come off.

Do I need to remove the film from the polycarbonate on the inside of the sheet? Here, the coating is most often completely transparent, but it also needs to be removed, since the film traps light. If you leave it, then in a couple of years it will disrupt the appearance of the product.

By its nature, polycarbonate is not resistant to ultraviolet rays (UV), therefore, to ensure the durability of polycarbonate sheets, manufacturers cover them with a protective UV layer and introduce special additives into the polymer mass.

The second threat to polycarbonate sheets is ordinary dust that gets into the mass during production. The smallest dust particles, perhaps even invisible to the human eye, can cause serious "burns" of the sheets and lead to a reduction in the service life of the material.

An analogy can be drawn to the melting of snow in spring. Dirty snow melts faster, since grains of sand in the snow mass intensively absorb solar heat. So it is with polycarbonate: when heated in the sun, dust particles trapped in the polymer mass in the production process literally burn the polycarbonate from the inside. As a result, the sheet "opens", bursts, gradually loses its aesthetic appearance, load-bearing capacity and tightness.
Since cellular polycarbonate sheets are mostly used for outdoor structures (for the construction of greenhouses, sheds and canopies, translucent roofs, etc.), it is very important to carefully choose a supplier who, already at the production stage, will be able to ensure the durability of the consumer properties of its products. Including - the cleanliness of production.

Cleanliness is the key to preserving the necessary properties of polycarbonate sheets.

In the production of cellular polycarbonate, cleanliness must always reign as in a surgical room. This requirement is of quite practical importance - the smallest particles of dirt that got into the polycarbonate mass during production not only spoil the outer sheet, but also significantly reduce its durability. Dust particles can be so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the damage caused by a manufacturer's sloppiness can be severe.
The raw material for the production of honeycomb sheets is granular polycarbonate. In order to prevent dust, dirt, or moisture from getting into it, the granules are carefully packed in multilayer bags during transportation from the production of raw materials to the processing plants. On the territory of the processor, raw materials must be stored in special tanks.

Before starting the production cycle, the granules are cleaned of dust and moisture in special centrifuges. Despite all these precautions, in a well-organized production, great attention is paid to cleanliness in workshops. The main sources of industrial dust are dirty floors and dust on equipment. Therefore, wet cleaning is an integral part of the production process, which is performed many times during the entire work shift.
But even this is not enough - to ensure cleanliness, a competent manufacturer arranges a special anti-dust floor already at the stage of construction of the workshop, much attention is paid to the functioning of filters for supply ventilation and many other measures related to the cleanliness of production.

The responsibility to maintain cleanliness lies not only with the manufacturer, but also with the builders who install the polycarbonate sheets. If polycarbonate sheets are stored outdoors, then under such storage conditions there is a danger that the polycarbonate sheet will be turned to the sun on the side, which does not have UV protection (in the case of sheets with one-sided UV protection). Subsequently, this will inevitably lead to a decrease in its performance. On the other hand, there is a danger that in hot weather, under the influence of the sun, the protective film will firmly adhere to the sheet, which in turn will make it difficult to remove the protective film from the surface of the plate.
But the main problem is the storage of polycarbonate sheets with unprotected ends. Open ends contribute to the ingress of dust, dirt, moisture into the honeycomb of the polycarbonate plate. These factors contribute to a decrease in the durability of polycarbonate, compromising its strength. So storing sheets on the street is highly undesirable.

During the installation process (if it is carried out according to all the rules), builders will close the ends of the polycarbonate panels, and translucent structures made of this wonderful material will delight the owners for many years.
To summarize: - the reliability of a construction with a polycarbonate sheet coating largely depends on the conditions in which they were made. A decrease in the performance characteristics of polycarbonate sheets, and hence the reliability of the entire structure, can occur due to the fault of the smallest dust particles, which none of the consumers usually thinks about.

Construction mistakes when using cellular polycarbonate

All construction errors can be roughly divided into design errors and errors associated with improper use of the material.
Let us dwell in more detail on the errors associated with the incorrect use of the sheet.

Mistake # 1. The sheet is fixed to the sun by the side that does not contain surface UV protection. As a result, the leaf will turn yellow. The advice in this case is simple: do not remove the protective film with the markings before starting the installation. Otherwise, you can simply confuse the sides, because the presence or absence of UV protection by the eye cannot be determined.

Mistake # 2. Special thermal washers are not used. Simple self-tapping screws can damage the sheet during thermal expansion, and dirt will accumulate in places of damage. Special washers are necessary in order to close the mounting hole from moisture and dirt and prevent them from entering the cells.

Mistake # 3 ... The ends of the cellular polycarbonate sheet are not closed (or not closed correctly). If the ends are not closed, then the sheet becomes dirty, loses its appearance and light transmitting properties. There is a second option: the ends are closed "tightly" and the condensate formed in the honeycomb as a result of temperature changes does not come out. It is optimal to close the ends with a special perforated tape, and then a profile, which provide protection against dust ingress, but at the same time does not prevent moisture from escaping.

Mistake number 4. Incorrect application of the sheet class. All sheets of cellular polycarbonate are divided into classes: sheets for greenhouses (4 and 6 mm) and sheets for construction (from 8 mm). For example, you can often find that in the construction of stop complexes, a sheet with a thickness of 4 mm is used, moreover, a lightweight one. Such a sheet may not withstand the snow load, and people may be injured as a result of such a construction error. The same applies to translucent roofs and small architectural forms.

Many users complain about the clouding of polycarbonate over time, even in the case of contacting professional installers, does the material sometimes turn yellow? Who is guilty?

Cellular polycarbonate turns yellow (becomes cloudy) for several reasons: the impact of the external environment (in particular the sun); poor quality of raw materials; poor organization of production, lack of cleanliness in production; a high percentage of the use of secondary raw materials, its low quality and purity; violation of the modes of extrusion of a sheet of cellular polycarbonate.

Slow down the degradation process of cellular polycarbonate under the influence of the sun UV surface protection (applied by the method of coextrusion). The presence of these components must be indicated in the marking and passport on the sheet of cellular polycarbonate.

Let us dwell in more detail on the reason for the turbidity of cellular polycarbonate as a result of violation of the extrusion modes of the sheet during production. Extrusion of a sheet of cellular polycarbonate is a complex process for which it is very important to maintain the same parameters, including a constant extrusion temperature. Here the leading role is played by the class of equipment installed in production. If the accuracy class of the equipment is low, then the fluctuation of its parameters will occur in a wave-like manner. The sheet will extrude over an extended temperature range, and polymer undershooting may occur. And as a result: a cloudy leaf, with a lot of internal stress. Equipment accuracy class is an indicator that demonstrates how equipment can perform its task within a given range. Accordingly, on some equipment it is possible to produce a spaceship, but on some it is just a clay pot.

Thus, in order to avoid clouding of cellular polycarbonate, you need to choose a sheet made on Italian or German equipment with a high class of accuracy.

How to deal with moisture inside the cells?

For free outlet of condensate from the cells during installation, they should be oriented in the direction of the slope. It is also necessary to use the correct perforated tape and profile to allow moisture to escape.