Why Is Rubber Used in the Construction Industry

Inclement weather, undermined structural support and poor foundations, material deficiency, incompetent maintenance, and heavy impacts—these are just some of the factors why buildings and bridges collapse. The list goes in, although it might be hard to diagnose and isolate if it’s the resistance or the load that make a structure break down.

Hence, when structural engineers gather on the meeting table to plan and design structures, they bury their elbows deep to ensure that their projects will not fail! Because if a structure collapses, lives could be at stake. Death and serious injuries could happen.

What Makes a Structure Resilient

While all structures are made of these common construction materials to make them stand, structural engineers’ priority is to make them both tough and flexible. We might all think that buildings and bridges look like they are made entirely of steel and concrete, but they are definitely not just that.

In construction, it is what we call the bend or break rule. In laymen’s terms, it is the balance between both toughness and flexibility, and striking the right balance between these two is what makes a structure resilient.

Today, buildings and bridges are designed to effectively withstand dramatic earthquake shocks through a technology that enables them to move smoothly with strong movements and blows without being knocked down. So, what makes a structure flexible enough? It is rubber.

Strong But Lightweight

To achieve that flexibility, contractors use a heavy-duty industrial rubber product called elastomeric bearing pads. According to elastomeric bearing pad suppliers in the Philippines, these pads are layered on in between bridge beams and vertical supports. Its chief function is to distribute the load weight throughout the bridge's substructure and superstructure.

Additionally, it helps extend the bridge's life by suspending the materials' wear and tear. Hence, it saves the government and private companies money through fewer needs for repair and maintenance.

Shock Absorbing

Did you know that the bridges you drive your car across are infused with rubber? Because it is sturdy and pliable enough to deal with heavy weights and abrasions, compressible rubber pads are used to inhibit damage that comes from day-to-day bridge activities and movements. Moreover, compressible rubber pad suppliers boast of its shock-absorbing property.

Any rubber product can deflect shock and movement, but high-quality compressible rubber pads deliver a better job in shock absorption, especially neoprene ones.

Heavy Duty and Pliable

The construction industry has been in the business of building anything bigger and taller—from decks, houses, buildings, condominiums to bridges. It has developed multiple techniques and crafted a huge array of materials to answer that, but until now, it is still under pressure when it comes to natural disasters.

Earthquakes, among the nature’s attacks, are every engineer’s construction threat. Hence, many have turned to rubber’s pliable and quick-to-recover quality. If you are still deliberating about the cost and the kind of elastomer you will use for your next project, you may consult an associate of rubber strip fabrication companies in the Philippines to help you.