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Fast-cure structural sealant enables aggressive construction schedule

Fast-cure structural sealant enables aggressive construction schedule
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Fast-cure structural sealant enables aggressive construction schedule - 1

Fast-cure structural sealant enables aggressive construction schedule Case Study: Shopping Botucatu, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil While a range of sealants – including materials from Dow Corning, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company – was available per the project specification, the combination of the project difficulty and the extremely tight timing made the sealant selection critical. Dow Corning was selected because of the quality and reliability of its products. PRODUCT Dow Corning ® 121 Structural Glazing Sealant KEY PARTICIPANTS • Architect: Holler Neto, Incorbase Engenharia Ltda • Construction: Incorbase Engenharia Ltda • Glazing Contractor: Maxxi Vidros e Esquadrias Tight deadlines are typical in the construction industry. The project timeline for the construction of the new 38,206 m² Shopping Botucatu mall – located in southeast Brazil, about 225 km west of São Paulo – was particularly aggressive and further complicated by a bold but difficult design. Implementing this design in a timely manner would prove challenging. THE CHALLENGE Shopping Botucatu features a design that uses a nonuniform structure utilizing trapezoidal frames. The glass and aluminum structures were assembled by glazing contractor Maxxi Vidros e Esquadrias at its facilities using four-sided structural glazing and then transported to the shopping center for installation on the building. The project scope was large, including placement of 3,450 m2 of glass, 3,900 m² of aluminum composite materials (ACM) and 27 tons of aluminum. And time was short: Maxxi would have only four months for assembly and installation of the glass façade. Engineers initially selected a material that would meet the challenging design requirements, but the project timeline did not allow for the needed sealant cure time. Glazing contractor Maxxi Vidros e Esquadrias needed a solution that would provide the high-performance sealant requirements with a quicker cure mechanism. The answer to the challenge was found in Dow Corning® 121 Structural Glazing Sealant. With a 24-hour cure time, the two-part silicone sealant was ideal for the project, delivering the delicate bonding needed for the frame structure with a cure time that could meet the aggressive timeline. “The decision to use fast-curing Dow Corning® 121 Structural Glazing Sealant (as a replacement for a slowercuring sealant) was the determining factor for the success of the project,” said the engineer responsible for Maxxi. “The use of fast-curing silicone in large projects is a current trend in our country due to the immediacy of the completion of jobs and cash flow problems. Companies do not install glass prior to winning projects, and the façade assembly is executed within

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Fast-cure structural sealant enables aggressive construction schedule - 2

Use of fast-curing Dow Corning® 121 Structural Glazing Sealant enabled Maxxi Vidros e Esquadrias to quickly assemble the façade components off-site and transport them to the construction site without the long delays from traditional, slower-curing sealants, enabling the glazing contractor to complete construction in a timely manner. Supplied in an easy-to-use two-part cartridge, the unique 1-to-1 mix ratio sealant is quick and easy to apply – no specialized pumps or mixing equipment are needed. Because it’s fast-curing, projects can be completed in less time. This was critical in the case...

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