 |
Gypsum is nature's own material
Gypsum as a building material
The Danoline products are manufactured from high grade gypsum boards. Gypsum is a natural product that offers a large number of advantages when used as a building material. Gypsum is easily machined, cannot burn and contains no hazardous substances, and the manufacture of gypsum boards has only minimal impact on the environment. The residual waste from production can be recycled to produce new boards.
During fitting and processing no hazardous substances are released, and readypainted Danoline gypsum products are easy to maintain. As well as being environmentally sound, gypsum is a durable material with a long lifetime.
|
Benefits for architects, craftsmen and end-users
The properties of gypsum provide hands-on benefits for architects, craftsmen and end-users, offering excellent potential for shaping creative structures with good acoustics and a healthy indoor climate. The product concept at Danogips provides scope for combining products with greatly varying degrees of finish and adding shaped units of a three-dimensional nature. Gypsum is easy to shape and fit, and in the transformation to an interior design, the easy-to-follow assembly principles guarantee high quality. Overall, this contributes to a favourable all-round economy in the construction work.
Danoline gypsum products release no hazardous substances, either during machining and fitting or in the service period. A good working environment and indoor climate are thus guaranteed. Other advantages include the fact that there are no allergenic nuisances when using gypsum. Gypsum ceilings are also conducive to an acoustically good environment, as well as being fire protective and simple to maintain.
|
The history of gypsum
Today gypsum is a natural part of modern buildings in most places around the world. But the story of the use of gypsum dates back some 5000 years to ancient Egypt, where the special characteristics of gypsum were discovered. Gypsum was mixed with marl and used as mortar in the pyramids.
In 1775 the Frenchman Lavoisier found the chemical formula for gypsum: CaSO4,2H2O. The discovery that gypsum consists of calcium sulphate and crystalline water paved the way for the industrial processing of gypsum. In 1888 the American Sackett invented a machine for producing gypsum boards, and 1901 saw the construction of the world’s first gypsum board mill in the USA.
|
Nature’s crude gypsum
Gypsum occurs widely in its natural form. The gypsum used for refinement in Northern Europe is transported by ship and lorry from quarries in countries like Spain, France and Italy. More than 2.400 million tonnes of reserves are known of globally. In the natural state gypsum is formed by precipitation when seawater, which naturally contains 0.13% dissolved gypsum, evaporates. The crude gypsum is quarried in open mines in the form of stone blocks, then conveyed to the factory, where it is processed industrially. The initial stages are drying, crushing and pulverization. The gypsum powder is subsequently heated to approx. 165°C, at which temperature 75% of the chemically bonded water is expelled. This leaves stucco plaster, which is additionally processed and worked into boards by shaping the gypsum mass between two layers of cardboatd liner. During further processing, the great flexibility and mouldability of the gypsum boards is exploited to create a wealth of products.
Industrial gypsum
In addition to natural raw gypsum, industrial gypsum is used, which is manufactured as a by-product at combined heating and power plants. This gypsum consists of crushed limestone mixed with water, air and sulphur dioxide. Exploiting the sulphur dioxide to make plaster prevents acidification of the environment as well as providing pure gypsum material.
|
|
