English
Nederlands Founder Teijin on building the extension of Amsterdam’s new Stedelijk Museum
Many people know that the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is about art, but how many know that its new extension is made of composite? From even in the design phase, there were several challenges to constructing this daring structure. And why would a Japanese company be so committed to this Dutch museum? Danny Wilms Floet, technical engineer at Teijin Aramid, discusses his role in supporting the various parties involved in the composite building’s development.
The Netherlands, and specifically Amsterdam, will soon have an iconic museum comparable to buildings like the Guggenheim in Bilbao and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, one made of titanium and the other of steel. With its plastic extension, the building joins the company of world-famous buildings made of unusual materials. Benthem Crouwel architects designed the building extension with a single surface that shines in the sun, 3000 square meters in size, a feat of architectural engineering that can be seen nowhere else in the world. The huge extension, quickly nicknamed ‘the bathtub’ by locals due to its shape and shininess, is currently being built by head contractor VolkerWessels and Holland Composites. It is made of a composite material reinforced with the Twaron aramid fiber and Tenax carbon fiber, both made by Teijin. The 100-meter-long extension consists of 4850 kg of Twaron and 4050 kg of Tenax, containing a total of over 8,500 kilometers of fiber.
The fibers were donated by Teijin Aramid, a Japanese company with its roots in the Netherlands. Its aramid fiber Twaron was developed in the 1970s by AkzoNobel. Since the takeover of Twaron by the Japanese company Teijin, there has been continual investment in further development of this durable fiber. With this Twaron- and Tenax-fiber-reinforced extension, Teijin is helping to build a new, pioneering building which will be talked about for many years. “Given our attachment to the country, and the fact that a combination construction of Twaron and Tenax is the only way to achieve this kind of volume in construction, we quickly decided to be the Main Founder of the Stedelijk Museum.”
“What many people don’t know yet is that for its weight, Twaron is five times stronger than steel, and can withstand extremes in temperature. High-quality fibers are being used more and more in all kinds of products where weight, strength and behavior at different temperatures are important, but also as a durable and sustainable replacement. Twaron is used in car tires, fiber optic cables, shipbuilding, airliner construction, but also as a replacement for asbestos in brake discs. It’s now used in construction to reinforce bridges and concrete pillars, often in areas where there’s a risk of earthquakes.”
An analysis by the engineering firm Solico showed that a composite combining Twaron and Tenax would result in an extension with minimum thermal expansion. “Every millimeter counts when you need 100 meters of seamless-looking structure. An extension made of glass fiber or aluminum, for example, could result in an expansion of about 17.5 cm with a temperature rise from -20 to +50 degrees Celsius. Thus it was important the individual composite panels contracted or expanded as little as possible with differences in temperature. Using Twaron and Tenax for a seamless extension, there is an expansion of 1 mm per degree Celsius temperature rise. Whereas the resin in the composite expands with heat, both Twaron and Tenax do precisely the opposite and contract. By using just the right quantities so that these effects cancel each other out, there is virtually no contraction or expansion of the composite panel. Soon the museum will have a new extension practically without joints or welds.
