When it comes to renovating a house, office, etc. or building it from scratch, then you might have come across the GFRG Panels. GFRG panels stand for Glass Fibre Reinforced Gypsum, which is in trend and gives look. These panels are made up of gypsum plaster that is well known for its durability and overall look. These panels are also known as rapid walls.
These panels are made up of calcined gypsum plaster, reinforced with glass fibre. When they are filled with reinforced concrete, in an appropriate proportion becomes strong enough to act as a load-bearing and shear wall. Compare to other panels, GFRG can endure the lateral loads due to earthquakes and wind. Throughout the construction, not only the ceiling but the roofs, floor, sunshades and is being adopted heavily.
Looking at its various advantages and growth, the technology spread like wildfire and is being taken up heavily throughout the construction industry. The original panel colour of GFRG is white because of gypsum and has a smooth finished surface. Due to the finished surface, they can quickly be whitewashed or painted without cement plastering the walls, therefore they providing some scope of creativity for the client.
The GFRG building panel dimension is 12 x 3 x 0.127m, which weighs around 1.6 tons. It is well equipped with 4 cavities within 1 meter of the panel.
Manufacture of GFRG Panels
1. GFRG panel manufacturing is done with a semi-automatic plant with the use of slurry obtain while heating the calcined raw gypsum.
2. The plaster (Calcined raw gypsum) is a mixture of white cement, water and certain chemicals like D50 (retarder) and BS94 (water repellant in a mixer).
3. The different layers of slurries are then scattered over a table and are scattered with glass fibres and aluminium plugs to form hollow cavities.
4. After half an hour or so, the aluminium plugs are extracted and the panels are sent to a dryer.
Applications of GFRG Panels
1. Load Bearing Structure
The load-bearing feature of the GFRG panel is one of the most common applications of GFRG panels. When the cavity inside the panels is filled with concrete, the compressive strength of the panels gets enhanced.
When the panel's bars are introduced, the capacity of panels to resist the lateral loads is also enhanced. Thus, using such load-bearing structures in construction is the best option for multistoried buildings.
2. Partition Walls
Another feature of GFRG panels is the partition in walls in single or multi-storied buildings. These panels are used as partition walls, which means these panels can be used for cladding industrial buildings or sports grounds. Similarly, they can also be used as security walls or compound walls.
3. Roof Slabs and Horizontal Horizontal Floor
GFRG panels for slab and floor are cut to the required size and marked with notations. At the start, the walls joints, cavities and horizontal RCC tie beams are filled with concrete. After the plank of wood with the width of 300mm to 450 mm is provided to room span between the walls with support wherever the embedded microbeams are present.
Finally, the roof panels are lifted by the crane so that the panel can float perfectly horizontal. Each panel of GFRG roof panels is placed over the wall in such a way that provides a minimum gap of 40 mm.
Construction with GFRG Panels
1. There is no construction process up to the plinth level that prevails similar to the conventional method. Therefore, no special foundation is necessary for the installation of GFRG panels.
2. To strengthen the interlocking with the cells of the panels, concrete belts are built at the plinth area with protruding iron rods.
3. With the help of mechanical means, concrete belts are built at the plinth area by protruding iron rods.
4. The construction process up to the plinth level remains similar to the conventional method. It required no special foundation for the installation of GFRG panels.
5. Concrete belts are built at the plinth area with protruding iron rods which are meant to strengthen the interlocking with the cells of the panel.
6. Finally, the waterproofing method is carried out for the roofs and floors of the building.
Advantages of Using GFRG Panels
1. The time of construction for these panels is short, so this will help to save time and a little money.
2. It has the glorious thermal property to keep the space cool even in the harsh summer season.
3. For the installation, there are no beams or columns are required.
4. Compare to other types of panels, GFRG panels maintenance cost is almost less and has a good life span.
5. If you choose these panels, the use of cement and sand reduces the carbon footprint, which means it is an environmentally friendly construction material.
Limitations of GFRG Panels
1. The GFRG panels need extra care and some specific machinery is also needed for their movements.
2. These panels can't be used for walls with higher or circular curvature.
3. To avoid abrasion, the panels need to be neatly stacked.
4. For residential buildings, the clear span is limited to 5m.
Conclusion
Almost all construction projects are bound by time constraints. However, it's all up to the contractor to innovate and come up with new material designs to overcome this restriction while starting true to the specifications of the plans. But in recent times, the GFRG system has proved very effective in all aspects of construction, notably in cost and time.