Reason for selection: Conventional materials for roofs of shrines and temples
are tiles, copper sheets and prepainted steel sheets. In recent years, however,requirements
for alternate materials have risen which are lighter in weight to be better prepared for
possible earthquakes and are stronger against
acid rain. Coated stainless steel was known for some time as a possible alternative material but due to its
hardness it wasnot been
considered a good
roofing material for shrines and temples as the roofs of these structures need
extensive bending and
curving work. To deal with this problem, the applicant has developed
a new roofing material through coloring “a soft and easy-to-process equivalent of SUS304 grade” by oxidization, achieving such features as designability, corrosion
resistance and light weight (1/11 of tile roof). Since
it is an effective anti-quake means to reduce the roof weight and as
technologies to color the stainless steel surface and to process such material
into roofs and install them further advance, this newly-developed stainless
steel is expected to further promote roofing applications for these religious structures
and contribute to preserving part of Japanese culture related to shrines and
temples.
Stainless steel type used: Equivalent to soft SUS304
