Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) material: Critical issues and applications with emphasis on buildings

The present article is a critical review about ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) material, with emphasis on building applications since ETFE is promising for the building sector, offering multiple advantages (elastic and low-weight structures, etc.) from different points of view. Selected references about ETFE properties are presented, revealing that ETFE material presents resistance to temperature/aging, mechanical strength and chemical resistance. In addition, studies about light transmission/insulation of ETFE material for building applications are included, showing that ETFE cushion insulating characteristics can be further improved by utilizing additional layers while some studies refer to ETFE decay in terms of light and solar transmittance performances after some months of exposure. Investigations which compare ETFE with glass are also presented, revealing that ETFE offers many advantages, in comparison with glass, from different points of view. A separate part of the article is about ETFE environmental profile and the literature review demonstrates that most of the investigations (which include LCA (life cycle assessment)/environmental issues about ETFE) evaluate embodied energy (the findings show values from 26.5 to 210 MJ/kg). Concerning ETFE applications, the literature review reveals that ETFE can be used for different applications (roofs, façades, atria, in combination with PV (photovoltaic) technology, etc.). Moreover, additional issues (acoustics, shading, etc.) are presented and critically discussed. Furthermore, a separate part with case studies is included. In this way, the present article offers useful information about ETFE, based on different factors, focusing on ETFE applications for buildings and constructions.

The authors would like to thank “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” of Spain for the funding (grant reference ENE2016-81040-R) and Banco Santander UdL-Impuls program.