Plastics is the future of building and construction industry. Plastics encourage creativity amongst people, making it one of the leading materials in building and construction. Plastics help in new developments for entrepreneurs, for architects and builders and for common man. Plastics processing involves extrusion, injection moulding, blow moulding, thermoforming, rotational moulding and calendaring. In extrusion, film extrusion which started with films for packaging, has propagated to new end-use and innovations such as polyethylene (PE) geomembrane as a waterproofing membrane for building and construction industry. Plastics is commonly used in polyethylene flexible packaging laminates protecting the packed contents from moisture. It could also be used in vertical and horizontal walls of building and construction preventing each building from water seepage leading to longevity of each building. In vertical walls PE geomembrane could be inserted in each brick so that this PE film stands in a vertical position embedded in the vertical walls of each building. PE film is an impermeable membrane preventing seepage of water in buildings. Plastics are long lasting products which help buildings last longer. Lining the walls of buildings with plastic geomembrane leads to damp free walls. This prevents leakage in buildings which leads to collapsing of structures. Plastics, has helped in developing green buildings in numerous ways. Cost Benefit to Enduser • Life of Building Increases by 20% reducing the corrosion of steel rods • 1 kg of Polyethylene 3 layer Geomembrane of 250 microns in 70 sqft of wall • Selling Price of PE Geomembrane is Rs 145/kg (including Excise Duty) (Source: Trimurti Plastic Industries, Pune) Payback for Enduser 1. Cost of Building & Construction – Rs 2000/sqft 2. Assuming 1000 sqft area of home – 1000 * 2000 = Rs 20,00,000 3. Assuming life of the building – 60 years 4. Rs 20,00,000 for 60 years 5. Rs 33,333 for 1 year 6. Rs 6,66,660 for 20 years 7. Assuming 1000 sqft area of home with dimensions of 35 ft * 30 ft =1050 sqft 8. 35 ft (Outer Wall of the building) * 15 ft (height) = 525 sqft 9. 30 ft (Outer Wall of the building) * 15 ft (height)= 450 sqft 10. Total Area = 975 sqft 11. Material Cost – 70 sqft = Rs 145/kg, 1 sqft = Rs 2/kg, For 975 sqft = Rs 2000, Rs 2000 * 5 = Rs 10,000(Assuming Rs 2 per sqft, 5 times the material cost for inserting the geomembrane between 2 bricks in vertical walls of buildings) 12. Manpower Cost for Building & Construction without PE Geomembrane = Rs 10/sqft 13. Manpower Cost for Building & Construction with PE Geomembrane = Rs 15/sqft 14. Manpower Cost for Building & Construction with PE Geomembrane = Rs 14,625 or Rs 15,000 (Rs 15/sqft for 975 sqft) 15. Total Cost = Material Cost + Manpower Cost = Rs 10,000 + Rs 15,000 = Rs 25,000 16. Savings for 20 years = Rs 6,66,660 17. Net Savings = Rs 6,66,660 – Rs 25,000 = Rs 6,41,660 (Source : Civil Engineer from Building & Construction) HDPE Geomembrane as a waterproof membrane in each building could be of thickness 0.08 mm to 2.5 mm & width of 2 to 7 mts, offers • Excellent stress resistant cracking performance. • Excellent performance of chemical erosion resistance. • Big scope of application temperature and long service life. Geomembrane is produced by three layer coextrusion process and processed at 2000° C. Recommended properties of PE Geomembrane - Tensile strength >17 Mpa, Elongation at break > 550%, Right angle tearing strength >110 N/mm, Puncture Strength > 550 N, Chemical Resistance – At 80 deg, marinated at 5 g/L Nacl for a long time, it will not erode or swell, Permeability Coeffecient < 1*e-13 g cm/(cm2 S.Pa) Cement is needed for building & construction, geomembrane is needed for waterproofing. Polyethylene film acts as a leakproof material, a mirror reflection of the versatility of the product made up of linear low density polyethylene or low density polyethylene. Wide films for PE Geomembrane need to be looked at by entrepreneurs. Focus should be on High output machines for achieving higher volumes of business and lowering the costs of conversion. Membrane, a film which separate two layers of cement and sand act as a waterproofing membrane. Polypropylene geotextiles act as a separation fabric between layers of stone and sand, polyethylene geomembrane acts as a separation film between 2 layers of cement and sand. (Total Housing units = 195 million) (Source : http://209.85.175.104/) (Census of housing 1991) Seepage of water through cracks is prevented by this polyethylene geomembrane. Collapse of structure could be prevented by this PE geomembrane, thereby saving lives. Plastics in the form of a film is versatile in innumerable applications, mulch film in agriculture, three layer film for milk and edible oil, carry bags and now in PE geomembrane for water proofing. Unbound are these benefits, unbound are the enduses. Building and construction activity is safe with products like HDPE Monofilament Construction nets as well as PE Geomembrane. If PE Geomembrane could be used in each building in the country, this would lead to a high volume business for entrepreneurs in the country. Plastic films are versatile with leak proof characteristic. Leakproof and waterproof are properties of these plastics films. Manufacturing Process of 3 layer PE Geomembrane The manufacture of 3 layer composite film requires 3 extruders feeding resin through hoppers into a single die. Each extruder processes specific material and is fed through a common spiral, mandrel and the layers are brought together in the die. The film passes through a common sizing calibrator into collapsible boards to the top nip roller, which is water-cooled. The platform on which the extruders are mounted may be rotated or the nip roller which is water-cooled. The platform on which the extruders are mounted may be rotated or the nip roller rotated to minimize thickness variation. From the nip roll the film made is passed through a corona treater to the turret winder station. Conclusion This product would help existing processors of PE Multilayer film in increasing product mix, average selling price, capacity utilisations, net profitability by higher volumes of business. This would make the product cost competitive vis-a-vis existing Water proofing materials such as fibres. Eg if only 20% of production is used for manufacturing PE Geomembrane, the selling price of PE Geomembrane could be lowered, balance 80% of the project could be run with a higher selling price. Increasing the life of each building is the aim of each builder. Additionally, Retention of paint takes place if there is no leakage. Polyethylene waterproof geomembrane plays a role of preventing collapse of the building and can save lives of innumerable people in the country. (Author: Ms Poorvi C. Desai, Sr. Manager, Business Development – Polymers, Reliance Industries Ltd.)