Sicomin has supplied composite materials to produce both molds and parts for the five gilded domes of the recently inaugurated Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Paris.
Sicomin supplied materials for the dome tooling to Décision SA, a Swiss based Carboman Group company, who infused a set of glass fiber multiaxial fabric and balsa reinforced molds using Sicomin’s SR8100/SD7820 cost effective 120°C Tg epoxy infusion system.
The dome panels were produced at Multiplast’s factory in Vannes, France using Sicomin’s SR8100/SD4772 epoxy infusion system and a glass fiber reinforcement lay-up. By combining their heavyweight quadaxial fabric style QX1180 with a woven 500 gsm fabric, Sicomin was able to provide a laminate with no print through and improved top surface flow characteristics to prevent dry spots.
Using a Sicomin composite material solution for the domes had many advantages for this project. The domes’ reduced weight allowed for rapid installation as well as reducing the dead loads that must be carried by the building structure. Another benefit of building the domes off site, was that both manufacture and decoration of the domes could be carried out in controlled conditions without the weather impacting the production process. Sicomin carried out DSC testing in their laboratory to improve the post curing procedure to ensure the stability of the finished parts before craftsmen applied 86,000 leaves of real gold to the 640m2 surface area of the domes.
This story is reprinted from material from Sicomin, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
