Few methods of construction can compete with tensile structures; they bring style, curvature, translucency, and clear large spans for building schemes. Building with textiles is a tradition that goes back thousands of years, but membrane technology has only taken off in the last two decades. In this time, fabric technology has advanced, design and engineering have become computerized, and manufacturing techniques have improved vastly. This has allowed the industry to produce technically advanced and aesthetically beautiful fabric with a wide variety of uses.
Modern coated fabric offers significant performance advantages – increased strength, ease-of-cleaning, printability, solar shading, superior acoustic characteristics, and resistance of moisture in the atmosphere thus increasing the lifespan and improving dimensional stability.
Generic Mesh Fabrics
Two types of generic mesh fabrics form the basis of other fabric types. These are structural coated fabrics and mesh fabrics.
Structural coated fabrics
Structural coated fabrics consist of a woven base cloth made of warped threads that run along the length of the roll and fill threads running across the width. This base cloth is then covered by a protective layer on both sides. The woven or knitted base cloth provides the structural strength of the fabric, while the coating produces weatherproofing, color, and the required technical characteristics.
Mesh fabric
In contrast, mesh fabrics are made from coated cloth with warped threads running across parallel running thread bundles. Due to the openness in mesh fabrics, they are primarily used as shading or light-diffusing fabrics. Laminated meshes also exist that provide a weatherproof finish with a high level of light transmission.
External use fabrics
The most commonly used external fabrics are PVC-coated polyester, PTFE-coated glass cloth, and silicon-coated glass cloth.
The graphic below shows comparisons of different structural attributes of fabrics. With a good understanding of the client’s requirements, an optimum decision can be reached with the designer or vendor about which material is best for certain uses.
| Property | PVC COATED POLYESTER | PTFE COATED GLASS CLOTH | SILICON COATED GLASS CLOTH |
| Life expectancy | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| Strength | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Maintenance | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| Translucency | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Flame retardancy | 5 | 9 | 9 |
| Demountable | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Printable | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| Cost | 8 | 4 | 6 |
PVC coated polyester scores well on strength, is cost-effective, easily printed on, and requires moderate maintenance. However, it has lower light transmission than the latter two options and is also harder to dismount.
PTFE coated glass cloth is more useful for harsh environments that experience high UV exposure, such as deserts and camp safaris. PTFE coated glass cloth has the highest life expectancy of all three options and is also easy to maintain. Its biggest setback is cost.
For projects where light transmission is important, silicon-coated glass cloth is a viable option. It has the added advantage of requiring little maintenance and reasonable strength.
