The buildings constructed for the World Expo are designed to promote the concept of ecology and environmental protection. With this in mind, Ashland’s Aropol G299C polyester resin was used by Kunshan Ampelite Fiberglass Manufacturing Co Ltd to make the roofing panels that feature a light penetration level close to 90%. This allows natural light to illuminate the pavilion during the day, reducing the need for electric lighting.

Aropol resin was used to produce translucent fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) roofing panels to cover more than 172 000 ft² of surface.

“The building’s design, inspired by the ‘paper-folding’ technique, makes it one of the landmarks for the World Expo,” says Baochang Zhang, commercial director, Ashland Performance Materials, Asia. “We are very proud to have supplied our high-performance Aropol resins to help with the successful construction of the Theme Pavilion for this global event.”

Expo 2010 Shanghai started on 1 May and runs until 31 October. Over 70 million visitors are expected.

Ashland Performance Materials, part of USA headquartered Ashland Inc (NYSE: ASH), produces unsaturated polyester resins and vinyl ester resins.