News

In a metropolis with tall buildings, glass curtain walls cascade down like waterfalls, outlining the city’s skyline. Have you ever noticed what is quietly supporting this piece of transparency and lightness? Stainless steel plates, as the “invisible skeleton” of modern building curtain walls, are redefining the facade language of buildings with their excellent performance. When curtain wall experts look through the material list, why can stainless steel stand out from the many choices? Let us uncover the glorious code of the building’s “metal skin” together. 1. The core charm of stainless steel plates Stainless steel plates are essentially alloy steels containing more than 10.5% chromium. When the metal surface is exposed to oxygen, chromium will spontaneously form an extremely dense, nanometer-thick chromium oxide protective film. This “golden bell” has an amazing self-healing ability: even if the surface is slightly damaged, the oxygen in the environment can quickly promote its regeneration and prevent deeper corrosion factors. Mainstream austenitic stainless steels such as 304 (06Cr19Ni10) and 316 (06Cr17Ni12Mo2) have made a shining debut in the field of building curtain walls by relying on this mechanism. 2. The best “hard core” performance makes it the first choice for curtain walls (1). Fearless of wind and rain: top weather-resistant guard The king of corrosion resistance: Compared with ordinary carbon steel curtain wall keels, which will cause structural risks due to rust after a few years, 316 stainless steel is particularly good at resisting acid rain, snowmelt salt, and even erosion in the ocean atmosphere with its molybdenum-reinforced passivation film. The curtain wall keels of coastal buildings such as the Tianjin National Maritime Museum are made of 316 stainless steel, which has been in service for more than 10 years without rust (long-term tracking report of the China Building Materials Testing Center). Low-temperature toughness poses no challenge: In severely cold environments, the stainless steel curtain wall support components widely used in stations along the Harbin-Dalian High-Speed ​​Railway have proven their low-temperature toughness and can withstand repeated freezing and thawing at minus 30 degrees, eliminating the risk of ordinary steel becoming brittle at low temperatures. (2). Combining rigidity and flexibility: a model of mechanical properties Lightweight and high-strength structural weapon: The cold-rolled strengthening process of stainless steel can make its yield strength exceed 600MPa (ordinary carbon steel Q235 is only about 235MPa). for example: Ping An Financial Center uses stainless steel composite components as the secondary keel of the super-high-rise unit curtain wall, which effectively shares the load and greatly reduces the amount of carbon steel to achieve lightweight (the structural load of the building is reduced by about 15%). Perfect balance between load-bearing and extension: The ultimate elongation of stainless steel exceeds 40%, which is much better than ordinary carbon steel (about 25%). When strong winds hit the glass curtain wall, the stainless steel keel can absorb energy through plastic deformation, providing additional safety redundancy for the structure. (3). Flexible shaping: freedom of artistic realization Endless possibilities for bending and carving: Stainless steel’s excellent plasticity and moderate cold hardening properties (work hardening index n≈0.4) enable it to adapt to complex curtain wall surfaces. Under the flowing ridge-style glass ceiling of Beijing Daxing Airport, the stainless steel trusses are shaped into elegant spatial curves, adding artistic beauty to the functional structure. The surface effects are ever-changing: from the mirror polishing (Ra≤0.05μm) of Guangzhou Chow Tai Fook Finance Center, to the customized frosted etching patterns of Hangzhou Raffles Center (which can achieve different coarseness of 80-600 mesh), to the gorgeous colorful PVD coating surface of the National Grand Theater Concert Hall, stainless steel provides architects with extremely rich aesthetic choices. (4). Timeless: Partner with an Ultra-Long Life Cycle The cost advantage of extremely low maintenance: The maintenance of the stainless steel curtain wall system focuses on glass cleaning and sealant testing, and it rarely needs coating repair or rust removal. The Aon Center building in Chicago, USA has been through more than 30 years of wind and frost, and its stainless steel curtain wall system is still intact, and the maintenance cost is lower than that of the aluminum curtain wall of the same period. Guarantee of life span exceeding the life limit: According to the standard ISO 9224, in a typical urban atmosphere, the average corrosion depth of 316 stainless steel is estimated to take 100 years to exceed the critical value (less than 0.1mm/year). In theory, the life of the curtain wall structure can easily exceed 50 years, which is much longer than the 25-30-year design life of the standard building curtain wall. If you need the decorative stainless steel sheets, talk with HUA STEEL CO., ,Which we will supply you mirror sheets, brushed plates, anti-slip sheets, hairline plates!