Wall panel skins are the surfaces of the wall panels that are exposed. Whattype of modular panel skins should your cleanroom be constructed of? To answer this question, you need to assess the purpose of the cleanroom along with how you plan on cleaning your cleanroom. Are you going to use a wet or dry agent or both?
Do you intend to sterilize or sanitize? Answering these questions will give you a cleanroom matched to you and not a cleanroom a vendor sold you off the shelf. Let’s look more closely at some of the options available.
uPVC: unplasticized polyvinyl chloride
Advantages:
- Very good resistance to all major cleaning agents
- Chemically welded joints and seams
- Available in different colors
- Average resistance to scratches
- Class A fire certification
Negatives:
- Need of skin supporting structure in case of scratches you lose the integrity of your wall
- Once seams are welded, you lose modularity and flexibility
HPL 4 mm: high-pressure laminate impregnated with phe-nolic resins (also known as “phenolics”)
Advantages:
- Very good resistance to all major cleaning agents
- Available in different colors
- High resistance to scratches
- Class A fire certification
- Easy to work for flush installation of accessories and for modification during erection
- Solid, 4-mm panel; no need of supporting skin structure; in case of scratch or wall chipping, no low class material exposed to the environment
Negatives:
- Cost might be higher for application where easy to clean flush surfaces are not mandatory
- New to the industry in the North American marketplace
Epoxy powder coating: based on a epoxy resin with a hardener, such as DICY(dicyandiamide) or special phe-nolic hardeners
Advantages:
- Very good resistance to all major cleaning agents
- Available in different colors
- Class A fire certification
- Depending on the skin, supporting structure may have competitive costs
Negatives:
- Low resistance to scratches
- Need of skin supporting structure, in case of scratches integrity of the wall is lost
Stainless steel: AISI 304 or AISI 316 are normally used in the industry
Advantages:
- Excellent resistance to all major cleaning agents
- Class A fire certification
- May or may not need skin supporting structure
- In case of scratching or wall chipping, no low class material exposed to the environment
Negatives:
- Low resistance to scratches and hand marks very visible. (Only aesthetic problems)
- Not easy to work to allow flush applications of cov-ings and accessories
- Higher cost