In the 1960’s, prominent glass manufacturer “Pilkington” developed an innovative process of mixing alkali resistant chopped fiber strands with a cement/sand slurry, providing a light weight and durable Alternative to concrete.
The founder of SOPREL, in his quality of managing partner of U.A.E’s first and largest “precaster”, was one of Pilkington‘s original licensees for the production of GRC.
All the experience he accumulated over years producing many hundreds of thousands square meters of cladding panels, claustra and lost formwork is, since the year 2003, available to SOPREL’s clients.
GRC has a wide flexibility in design and manufacture (sprayed or moulded), enabling the reproduction of most architectural styles and features. GRC can replicate virtually any surface details, as well as the appearance of most natural materials.
One of the most versatile technique is to cast the composite material in moulds manufactured from rubber, timber or Glassfibre Reinforced Plastic (GRP/FRP).
Since most GRC products skin thickness is in the 10 to 15 mm range, they are many times lighter and slimmer than similar concrete products, therefore enabling the packing
and shipping of GRC elements to far away destinations.
In the past few years Soprel Liban has delivered a large quantity of GRC to clients in Nigeria, Iraq and elsewhere in the world.
Flexural test results – Aged test results
