Aluminium composite as a potential building material in beehive construction

[Lesgold]

Hi Folks,

About 2 years ago a mate gave me 6 large pieces of aluminium composite which had been used for realestate advertising signs. Essentially they are two thin layers of aluminium separated by a layer of polythene. The sheets are non toxic, waterproof, have good thermal and UV properties as well as being easy to cut and drill. I use the material to make gable tops for my hives and just recently used some to make a lid for a hive. Has anyone used this material before? I see it having potential for lids, bottom boards etc. As it is pre finished, it requires no painting. The signs that I was given had advertising on one side and a gloss white finish on the other. Once used, the realestate signs have no use and would?ve a readily available resource.

[Acebird]

tops and bottom boards would be good

[animal]

Lesgold, ... ummm trying to find a way to say it nicely, but you're being a bit of a tease 

so .. overall thickness ? thickness of aluminum cladding ? or is it just a film.

saw that polythene is British for polyethylene ... so, a dense foam providing the stiffness covered by an aluminum foil or maybe a bubble wrap clad with aluminum sheet to give it stiffness ? ... ? .. ?

Also assuming the outer coating is vinyl  ?

You got my attention and kicked my obsessiveness into high gear ... please help !   

[The15thMember]

That's really interesting.  Our real estate signs are no where near that nice!  Ours are made from corrugated plastic.  You could use them for bottom board inserts, but probably not for anything structural in a hive. 

[animal]

15th .. they can be heat formed if you make a jig for the shape you want and a pretty decent roof/lid could be made. IMO, the best use for the big ones like promo signs at gas stations is in lieu of a creeper for getting under a car. Just throw it on the ground under vehicle. Cloth slides across them great, works on dirt as well as concrete.
they work well as reusable backing for targets too .. way better than cardboard.

[Lesgold]

Sorry for the teasing animal. The sheeting that I have is 3mm thick. It?s available in 4mm and 6mm but I would expect the cost would be prohibitive if you had to buy it new. Getting some free was the real appeal and I couldn?t refuse it when it was offered. The polythene centre is solid rather than being a foam. The aluminium covering is quite thin but the sheets are structurally very strong. The sheets are used for cladding on buildings so they do plenty of strength. You would be able to drive a nail through the sheet, drill holes close to an edge for screws or use a power stapler if required to fasten the sheets to other materials. The aluminium sheeting has a coloured coating on each side. It looks as though it would be durable and would wear well. In service it is guaranteed for 25 years. Its only drawback is that it is heavier than plywood. I?m testing it on a hive lid that  I made a couple of weeks ago. So far, there are no issues with it.

[animal]

I don't really mind the teasing. It just made me tease you back ... sorry if that bothered you.

Anyway, wow. Not familiar with that product at all. Solid poly... I can see where that would be really heavy!
Over here, we have several common versions of sandwich material with a poly center. Almost all are a foam of some sort with either mylar or aluminum foil. They're mostly used as an insulation layer, usually under some type of siding. The poly layer is mostly polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, or polyisocyanurate. Also seen a weird bubble wrap/ sheet metal stuff used for making ductwork but nothing like what you have. I'm jealous now.

If there was a lot of it and free, I might be tempted to use it for the outside of a hive body... by :
bonding XPS foam board to it (for an insulated hive) ... full facing on the side panels except for 3mm + foam thickness on each end for lap joint .... full facing on ends except for at the top to have clearance for where the frames hang (plus a bit to put some steel angle to protect the foam sheet where the frame hangs)
sides joined by steel angle on outside corners.

xps foam board, 1/2" ... almost 13mm  ...

https://www.lowes.com/pd/GreenGuard-GreenGuard-LG-1-2-x-4-x8-XPS-Insulation-Board/5001939677

[animal]

or for a better corner
full facing on the side panels except for 3mm on each end for lap joint .... full facing on ends except for at the top to have clearance for where the frames hang (plus a bit to put some steel angle to protect the foam sheet where the frame hangs) AND on ends except for the thickness of foam. I'd probably opt for doing it the other way and just glue little cubes of foam in the corners.

[Lesgold]

There is a bit of potential in relation to its use. If I wanted only two or three hives, I would design a system where materials used for the construction would be non toxic, light weight, extremely durable, well insulated and maintenance free. This type of composite material would be a good choice for that type of construction. Unfortunately they would require a fair amount of time to build.

[Acebird]

It would not be my choice for the box part of the hive.

[Lesgold]

Agreed. Not my number one choice either but if I had a big stock of it and other insulation type fillers it would definitely be considered. I do see more potential in bottom boards, lids, division boards, escape boards etc.

[little john]

About 2 years ago a mate gave me 6 large pieces of aluminium composite which had been used for realestate advertising signs. Essentially they are two thin layers of aluminium separated by a layer of polythene. The sheets are non toxic, waterproof, have good thermal and UV properties as well as being easy to cut and drill. I use the material to make gable tops for my hives and just recently used some to make a lid for a hive. Has anyone used this material before?

Yes - it's brilliant stuff for beehive use. Like you I inherited a couple of sheets which had been used for signage.  I made 4-part Crown Boards for a couple of Long Hives I was using to house 4x 5-frame nucs - superb stuff for this purpose when used with a 3-inch layer of polystyrene over.  Trimmed 'em to size on a table router - absolutely nothing negative to say about the stuff whatsoever.  Wish I had more.
LJ