Importance

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Abstract

The panel 1 comprises a steel skin or backing tray (2) and an external steel skin (3) with a layer of foam insulation material (4) such as a phenolic or polyurethane based foam material therebetween. One of the skins, in this case the external skin 3 has a plurality of mountings for fixing cladding elements such as tiles (5) to the panel to form a cladding. The mountings comprise rails (10) and fasteners (12) for fastening the rails (10) to the external skin (3). Each fastener (12) comprises an internal clamping sleeve (15) and a bolt (16). A hole is first drilled through the skin (3) and the sleeve (15) is inserted. On tightening of the bolt (16), the sleeve (15) splays and is clamped against the inside surface of the external skin (3), and the rails (10) are fixed to the panels. To enhance the peel strength of the composite panel a layer (30) of an adhesive is applied to the internal face of the external skin (3). The adhesive layer (30) is a pre-lay-down adhesive which is compatible with the material of the insulting core (4). The use of such an adhesive greatly enhances the peel strength of the panel and enables the panel to carry the additional load of the cladding tiles.

First Claim