Benefits and Cost Advantages of Fabricated Geomembranes

Some geomembranes are flexible enough that they can be factory seamed into large panels, folded, transported, unfolded without creasing or damage, and field seamed and tested as necessary. These geomembranes are relatively thin, flexible, and are mainly produced by calendaring, lamination, and extrusion manufacturing processes. In short, calendaring uses a series of hard pressure rollers to form a thin sheet of plastic material, e.g., a geomembrane. Lamination involves constructing a geomembrane by uniting two or more layers of material, e.g., two plastic sheets with a fabric or scrim in the middle. Extrusion manufacturing is a process used to create a thin plastic sheet by forcing heated plastic through a die of the desired thickness.