Building a new tomorrow

AMJun19Features - olin1
AMJun19Features - olin1

Olin Corporation is looking to build a new tomorrow using composite rebar materials, but more importantly wants to create some much-needed debate around how it can persuade the construction industry to specify more composite materials in building projects of the future. Mike Richardson reports.

 

I celebrated an anniversary recently when I reached 10 years as a journalist reporting on the composite manufacturing industry. But through all the innovative – and, if you’ll excuse the pun – ground-breaking stories I have written over the years, the fact remains that this industry is still waiting for a ‘tipping point’ where construction industry OEM companies finally realise that specifying composite materials like composite rebar into their next building programme, will ultimately be the most efficient way forward.

It could be argued that money in the form of financial investment in R&D, equipment, resources, you name it – will provide the very foundations for such a tipping point, and it’s here that Olin Corporation enters the building.

As the leading global manufacturer of epoxy, Olin used the recent JEC World, Paris exhibition to present new technologies that have the potential to create significant benefits and major new efficiencies in a broad range of applications. And yet, as I sit on the company’s stand talking to Juan Antonio Merino, area vice-president, EMEAI of Olin Corporation, he makes a very valid point: why aren’t more construction industry OEM companies attending JEC World?

“I’ve seen automotive and aerospace company people walking around JEC, but I haven’t seen or heard construction companies saying that they are very interested in composite materials technologies and see opportunities in using them in their industry,” Merino begins.

Financial foundations

Having completed the huge acquisition of Dow Chemical’s Global Epoxy, Global Chlorinated Organics, and US Gulf Coast Chlor-Alkali businesses in 2015 to become the largest chlorine producer in the world, and with what is claimed to be the most diverse portfolio derivatives, would you turn down the offer and financial investment clout of a company with a revenue of $7 billion to help transform the way you’ve always constructed buildings using metallics into using composite rebar instead?

“It is a really exciting time for Olin, and after completing the acquisition we’re moving into a growth phase,” Merino continues. “We want to enlarge our footprint as the chlorine and chlorine-derivative worldwide producer and leader. This new phase is starting now and will be implemented over the next 5-10 years, so we expect a lot of growth. We have around one million metric tonnes of products we can expand incrementally today. The global economy will need more of those products in the future and we are willing to invest following customer’s needs, being it with incremental expansion, green field sites or acquisitions.”

Juan Antonio Merino, area vice-president, EMEAI of Olin Corporation

Among Olin’s solutions and initiatives on show at JEC World was its LITESTONE technology, which provides long-term composite fibre reinforcement bar ensuring superior corrosion resistance, strength, thermal insulation and environmentally preferable properties. Used in the production of basalt fibre-reinforced polymer rebar with epoxy and anhydride-based resin formulation, LITESTONE composite technology is said to improve durability under mechanical stress. Encouraged by the success with basalt fibres, Olin will also be looking at glass with their novel epoxy solutions.

Conventional types of rebar experience fast corrosion and deterioration in salty environments for example. However, the use of Olin’s composite technology on reinforced epoxy rebar products results in the product remaining intact in such harsh environments. This is a significant development, as it offers a viable alternative to vinyl-based rebar, which is diluted with styrene. Olin’s LITESTONE technology allows customers to by-pass the use of environmentally-unfriendly styrene and use a more sustainable solution at a similar price.

“The construction industry’s challenge for the composites industry is how to produce components that are really low cost, because ultimately it is competing with the steel and concrete industry where traditional building materials are already comparatively low cost. To replace metal and concrete, the composites industry will need to be very efficient on total cost of the construction combined with the long-term benefits and efficiencies in specifying composite materials.

“Just imagine if the construction industry replaces metal rebar with composite rebar. If only 1% of the industry moves into composite rebar, the demand for basalt or glass fibre-reinforced raw materials will increase beyond today’s world supply capacity. If the composites industry is to be successful, it will require a lot of investment in producing basalt or glass fibres, epoxy resins, polyesters, etc. Is this industry ready to do this? Well, I think everyone is assuming that it is, but it is uncertain how many billions of dollars of investment are going to be needed in the industry. Olin is ready to play its role to achieve this goal of the construction industry’s adoption of composite technologies.

“Olin has a growth strategy and is ready to invest - we have the incremental expansions available. We intend to expand our epoxy resin capabilities and we will make some official announcements over the next few months. Our role is to produce the polymers, but we are also very interested in experimenting and understanding better how we can help and promote epoxy composites too.”

Weighing up the cost

Whilst lightweighting in the construction industry is very important, Merino believes the composites applications that have been undertaken in construction projects have offered faster construction times, and this has the potential to be an even bigger benefit than lightweighting.

“Composite rebar also provides an opportunity to utilise normal cement and will not need pH control additives. Speeding up the construction process through the use of composites is a huge advantage compared to those of using concrete and metal structures. Some of the building construction failures today are due to heavy corrosion in the metal bar inside the concrete. Unfortunately, the longer-lasting value benefits through using composites aren’t always apparent at the time of specifying what materials will be used. Composite materials will seem many times more expensive – especially if you do not take into consideration the long-lasting advantages it provides.

“This is the issue: concrete and metal will always be much cheaper than a polymer composite material. The total construction cost of specifying composites can be the same as utilising concrete and metal because of the faster time it takes to construct buildings. But the cost will be cheaper if you take into consideration how long it takes before you will need to start spending money on the maintenance of a concrete and steel structure - and this is a lot of money. The composites industry must learn to focus on showing those advantages to the construction industry and specification bodies to promote them and create full acceptance.”

The use of Olin’s composite technology on reinforced epoxy rebar product results in the product remaining intact in harsh environment. Image courtesy of ‘RockRebar’

Ultimately, there is the need to insert composites into the building codes and regulations and last but not least into the awareness of those who specify materials like architects. Recommendations should be designed and written up if we are to convince building architects that they should design and build their next building using composites instead of traditional materials. But if an architect doesn’t even know about composite rebar then how can they be expected to design with it?

“There is a lot of information and data that the composites industry will need to generate before it achieves serious traction in the construction industry,” Merino concludes. “It will need to assemble empiric data and proof that demonstrates composites can efficiently replace metal rebar. We’re ready to invest and convinced that the construction industry wants to get involved. We want to partner with other companies to move forward, promote and commercialise the use of composites.”

www.olin.com

Company

Olin

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