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Rigid Urethane Insulation Core

Introduction

Rigid urethane insulation has been used in the building and construction industries since the 1950’s. Over the past 40 years, in excess of 500 million square metres of insulated panels have been manufactured by the continuous lamination process and have been successfully used in roof and wall cladding applications worldwide.

The superior long term performance of metal faced insulated panels with rigid urethane cores is now widely recognised by building investors and designers when compared with site assembled, multi-part, built-up cladding systems. This has resulted in significant growth for this type of construction system.

The main reasons for this growth are:

• Increasingly stringent building regulations, which in many countries require the use of insulation to comply with energy efficiency and CO₂ emission targets.
• The rising cost of fuel and energy. Effective thermal insulation can reduce HVAC / heating costs by up to 40% wherever it is installed.
• The environmental cost of energy production is also a factor which now needs to be considered. The burning of fossil fuels for energy production is estimated to contribute 80% of the world’s CO₂ emissions. These green-house gases contribute to the problem of global warming, and so the conservation of energy is the most direct and cheap way to reduce CO₂ emissions and thus control global warming.
• Industry experts estimate that worldwide insulation of buildings to optimum standards could reduce global energy requirements by more than 10%.
• Rapid site assembly and early completion of a building project is demanded by investors and insulated sandwich panels provide ‘single fix’ fast on-site installation.

• Investors require superior specification, low maintenance and long-term product performance.

Thermal Performance

Rigid urethane insulation has one of the lowest thermal conductivity ratings of any insulant. This makes the retention of heat more efficient, and facilitates the effective maintenance of a temperature controlled environment such as a chill store.
The matrix of the insulation core has a closed cell structure that guarantees reliable thermal performance over the lifetime of the building.

Environmental

Non-Deleterious

The rigid urethane insulation core used by Kingspan is CFC and HCFC free which fully complies with the Montreal and Kyoto Ozone Depletion Summit Protocols. Kingspan rigid urethane insulation cores can therefore be termed as ‘non-deleterious’.
In health terms, the products are fully cured thermoset (cross-linked) polymers which, under normal conditions, do not emit noxious fumes and are safe to handle. In environmental terms, the products do not emit damaging gases nor do they leach into the environment during their lifetime. Being some of the most efficient insulants available to the construction industry, they actively contribute to the saving of energy and through this save significant amounts carbon dioxide emission.

Strength

Rigid urethane insulation provides a high level of compression and shear strength, which are essential requirements for insulated sandwich panels.

Ageing

Insulation panels faced with impermeable materials such as steel shows minimal change to the thermal conductivity of the insulant over the life of the installed cladding system.

Water Absorption

The water vapour permeability of rigid urethane insulation is very low due to its closed cell structure. Permeability is further reduced by the metal skin of a panel which acts as a moisture barrier.

Fire Performance

See Building Design Section for detailed fire performance information.
Like all organic building materials - wood, paper, plastics, paints - rigid urethane insulation is combustible, although its ignitability and rate of burn depend largely on the fire resistance properties of the material used to skin the panels.
The most effective fire resistance can be obtained using a fire rated rigid urethane insulation. By careful blending the urethane with certain additives, it is possible to formulate rigid urethane systems that achieve the fire standards required by National Regulations and the more demanding requirements of the insurance industry.

There is a constant drive from insurers and building owners to improve the performance of fire rated roof and wall panel systems. In response to this Kingspan has developed, tested and obtained approval for a wide range of fire rated products for roof and wall application.

Insulated panels with fire rated cores have performed well in actual fires and do not contribute significantly to the fire load in the building. They have an excellent track record as roof and wall cladding systems with over 40 years of history. Tests carried out in the UK, Germany, France and the USA all conclude that well designed fire rated insulated sandwich panels have excellent fire resistant properties.

Kingspan can supply FireSafe® specification products approved by/to the following building norms, certification authorities and insurers;

Building Norm Compliance Certification:

• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Poland
• Hungary
• Germany
• Holland & Belgium
• UK

• Republic of Ireland

Property Insurer Approvals

• Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB)
• FM Global (FM)

Adhesion to the Panel Skin

During the time between mixing and the achievement of its final cured state, rigid urethane insulation is extremely adhesive, which allows it to bond effectively to a wide range of insulated panel skins. The adhesion is so strong that the bond strength can be higher than the tensile or shear strength of the insulation itself.

Weight

The light weight of rigid urethane sandwich panels is an important contribution to the achievement of lighter and cheaper building structures due to the lower dead loads. Site assembly is also faster and incurs lower cost due to ease of handling. And transport costs are kept to a minimum because of lower product volume and increased load utilisation.

Chemical Resistance

Rigid urethane insulation provides excellent resistance to attack from a wide range of chemicals, solvents, and oils.

Biological Resistance

Rigid urethane insulation does not support fungal growth and is immune from attack by mould, mildew and vermin infestation. This is essential for hygiene applications.

Manufacture

Rigid urethane insulated sandwich panels are manufactured under quality controlled conditions to the highest ISO quality standards prior to delivery to the construction site. This guarantees a superior installed cladding system with long term performance.

CFC & HCFC Removal

Kingspan has developed and manufacture zero ozone-depletion-potential (ODP) PIR insulated panel systems.

Non-Deleterious Specification

“Deleterious (adj) – hurtful or destructive; destructive; poisonous (from the Greek ; deleterious).” Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary.

Kingspan PIR rigid urethane insulation cannot be classified as deleterious and should be termed as ‘non-deleterious’.
In health terms, the products are fully cured thermoset (crossed-linked) polymers which, under normal conditions of use and temperatures, do not emit noxious fumes and are safe to handle¹.

In environmental terms, the products do not emit damaging gases nor do they leach into the environment during their lifetime². Being some of the most efficient insulants available for construction use, they actively contribute to the saving of energy, fossil fuels and, therefore, large scale carbon dioxide emission and global warming. A modern approach to assessing this is the Total Equivalent Warming Impact (TEWI), and it can be readily demonstrated that during the average lifetime of construction products, the net effect is very positive, including all energy involved in raw material production, fabrication, and disposal of the insulants³.