Outdoor Living: Hot Summer? Add some shade!!!!!

Outdoor Living is getting pretty scientific and advanced in the materials that are being used to make your Outdoor Living Space functional and useable. Believe it or not, we have come quite a long way in Outdoor Living in the past 30 years.

For years people would use something like this:


Basic Pup Tent

In the 80's and 90's the big trend was something more like this:


Basic Gazebo

Which definitely was a big improvement from the tent (and of course the tent still has its natural applications).

But what we have at Family Leisure that is the "new" stuff that is really trending fast is a material called polycarbonate which is defined here:

Properties and processing

Polycarbonate is a very durable material. Although it has high impact-resistance, it has low scratch-resistance and so a hard coating is applied to polycarbonate eyewear lenses and polycarbonate exterior automotive components. The characteristics of polycarbonate are quite like those of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, acrylic), but polycarbonate is stronger, usable in a wider temperature range and more expensive. This polymer is highly transparent to visible light and has better light transmission characteristics than many kinds of glass.

Polycarbonate has a glass transition temperature of about 150 °C (302 °F), so it softens gradually above this point and flows above about 300 °C (572 °F). Tools must be held at high temperatures, generally above 80 °C (176 °F) to make strain- and stress-free products. Low molecular mass grades are easier to mold than higher grades, but their strength is lower as a result. The toughest grades have the highest molecular mass, but are much more difficult to process.

Unlike most thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo large plastic deformations without cracking or breaking. As a result, it can be processed and formed at room temperature using sheet metal techniques, such as forming bends on a brake. Even for sharp angle bends with a tight radius, no heating is generally necessary. This makes it valuable in prototyping applications where transparent or electrically non-conductive parts are needed, which cannot be made from sheet metal. Note that PMMA/Plexiglas, which is similar in appearance to polycarbonate, is brittle and cannot be bent at room temperature.

Main transformation techniques for polycarbonate resins:

extrusion into tubes, rods and other profiles
extrusion with cylinders into sheets (0.5–15 mm (0.020–0.59 in)) and films (below 1 mm (0.039 in)), which can be used directly or manufactured into other shapes using thermoforming or secondary fabrication techniques, such as bending, drilling, routing, laser cutting etc.
injection molding into ready articles

I'm not entirely sure what all of this means, but I can tell you it looks like this!!!!! As you can see it sits right on top of the pergola offering the maximum amount of shade without taking away from the pergola structure. It protects the folks underneath it from the rain, offers shade, and looks great!