Munich Airport Redesigns Terminal with Dyneon Treated Membrane
Oakdale, Minn. - (July 21, 2004) - Munich Airport announced that it will undergo a makeover, with the building of a new roof for Terminal 2. The decision comes after Skyspan (Europe) GmbH, located in Rimsting, Germany, successfully built the Munich Airport Center's (MAC) new roof in 1999. Shaped like a flying sail, the MAC roof consists of seven glass-fabric membranes coated with Dyneon™ PTFE and has a total surface area spanning 84,765 square feet. The MAC links two terminals together and serves as a central marketplace for airport guests.
The new roof design utilizes a canopy-style roof structure, made of glass-fiber membranes coated with Dyneon™ PTFE and Dyneon™ Fluorothermoplastics, combined with highly transparent films of Dyneon™ ETFE. The fluoropolymer-based materials are highly weather-resistant and virtually maintenance-free due to their high surface tension. Both materials meet the stringent fire-protection requirements for this application and are extremely durable.
Each membrane of the current MAC roof spans a distance of about 295 feet and meets special tensile-strength requirements, weighing several tons per square inch, even though each square foot itself weighs only 16 to 24 ounces.
With a translucence of 10 to 12 percent, the membrane panels act as UV filters and simultaneously bathe the thousands of travellers that move through the airport in a warm, pleasant light.
Koch Membranen GmbH, the company chosen to manage the construction of the new terminal roof, also combined PTFE-coated membranes with highly transparent Dyneon™ ETFE films in the canopies of the terminal's front entrance area. The top layer of glass-fiber membranes and the bottom layer of ETFE film together form a grid of air-filled cushions. Depending on the thickness of these cushions, the membranes provide 95 percent of the visible light.
A network of stainless-steel cables with a mesh width of 3 feet supports the canopy structures, each of which measures 30 x 59 feet. With a height of approximately 24 feet, the canopies afford protection from precipitation and strong sunlight, creating an impression of brightness at the new terminal.
ETFE films have consistently established themselves as a material for use in modern architecture. An example of this is the impressive Eden Project in Cornwall, where thousands of plants from diverse vegetation zones are growing as if they were outdoors. The ETFE film allows for all-important photosynthesis, while affording the necessary thermal insulation through its structural design.
Other impressive examples include the new Office of the Federal Chancellor in Berlin and sporting stadiums on three continents, including the Pusan Dome in South Korea, all of which use glass-fiber membranes coated with Dyneon™ PTFE and Dyneon™ Fluorothermoplastics.
Dyneon, a 3M company, is one of the world's leading fluoropolymer producers with operations or representation in more than 50 countries. Headquartered in Oakdale, Minn., the company employs more than 800 people globally who are dedicated to Customer Service, Technical and Sales Support, Marketing, Research Application Development, and Production.
