The Australian made, internationally patented permanent polymer formwork, Dincel Construction System is drawing global attention for its earthquake-proof properties.

Earthquakes can cause large scale devastation and significant loss of life, mainly from collapsing buildings. Dincel Construction System has addressed the issue with a locally manufactured product that is proven to withstand the most severe earthquake tremors.

The Dincel polymer formwork uniquely clicks into position to build structural walls and columns. The formwork was extensively tested at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) by Professor Bijan Samali over 24 months, with the results concluding that the polymer encapsulation of Dincel can withstand collapsing walls due to an earthquake. During testing an unreinforced Dincel wall was able to resist an earthquake up to magnitude 9 on the Richter scale.

According to Inventor and Managing Director of Dincel Construction System, Burak Dincel, the product has the potential to save thousands of lives. The company is considering exporting the product or setting up a factory in countries that are known earthquake zones. Dincel’s proven structural capabilities make them suitable for buildings being constructed in seismically active regions, which could save lives in future.

As a practising structural engineer, Burak Dincel says that falling partition walls between columns account for the majority of casualties in an earthquake event since the walls are mainly masonry type infill walls. Global experts agree that the safest structure to protect against earthquake damage is the monolithic style structure such as a concrete load bearing wall system. In such a structure, earthquake forces are distributed along the walls rather than being concentrated at the columns; there are no masonry style infill walls to collapse during an earthquake, eliminating any loss to life.

Built for extreme conditions, Dincel has also been proven by the CSIRO as a waterproof solution that resists corrosion and concrete cancer, making it ideal for subterranean, underwater and chemical environments, such as seawater, sewage and industrial waste areas.

Burak Dincel was a keynote speaker at the British Research Establishment (BRE) conference and at the World PVC Conference in Brighton, UK in April 2014. Since then Dincel Construction System has been fielding enquiries from several countries including Japan, Mexico, Turkey and New Zealand.

As a load bearing wall system, Dincel Construction System halves construction time and achieves up to a 40 per cent reduction in the cost of multi-level apartment construction. The earthquake proof building product was also recently awarded the Best Environmental Practice (BEP) Approval Mark after meeting the strict Green Building Council Best Practice Guidelines for PVC.