Rigid Insulation Boards: Phenolic Insulation Boards

by Mark Row

Insulating with Phenolic Insulation Boards: Why is it a good insulation solution?

Phenolic insulation boards are a vary innovative, efficient and multipurpose insulation product, with many properties and advantages that separate them from other ways of insulation and make them really stand out. Their substantial thermal insulation performance, alongside other characteristics that can really make a difference will assure you that phenolic insulation boards are a good insulation solution.

Phenolic Insulation Boards Definition

Phenolic insulation board actually consists of two flexible facing layers joint by plastic foam which presents the insulating core. The manufacturing process is based on the use of mixture of phenolic resin and high solids with a surface acting agent. Due to the heat that this reaction creates, bubbles in the material occur, produced by a liquid blowing agent, such as pentane, which is commonly used. In order of eliminating the risk of blowing agent being replaced by air over time, boards are often faced with glass tissue or  aluminum foil. The final result could be either sheet material cut into boards or blocks cut into previously determined shapes.

There are many advantages of phenolic insulation boards. First of all is their great thermal performance, due to low thermal conductivity, regardless of their thickness, which furthermore means better thermal insulation with minimum thickness of the boards used, which can be especially important if you want to save some space. Besides, there are many physical and structural qualities of phenolic insulation boards from which many of their performances derive. Primarily, they are very lightweight which makes them easy to transport and install. On the other hand, their high density that can be achieved through manufacturing process makes them very strong and stabile, allowing them to be easy to cut and fit into different spaces. Finally, phenolic insulation boards are mould, fungus and moisture resistant, can withstand high temperatures of up to 120°C and last but not least phenolic insulation boards are recyclable and can be reused in the production process, but also have lower smoke emissions, which makes them environmentally friendly.

Classification

Keeping in mind all the above mentioned properties of phenolic insulation boards, we are certain that you will have no problem opting for this type of insulation material, available right here on Insulation London, where we offer you high quality and properly certified products manufactured by one of the leading manufacturer in insulation today - Kingspan.

Among other products available, Kingspen offers you:

Kooltherm K3 Floorboard, available in 25mm-60mm thicknesses, Premium performance rigid thermoset insulation, with Class 0 fire rating and fire rated insulation core, unaffected by air infiltration and resistant to the passage of water vapor, very easy to handle and install and ideal for new build and refurbishment. It can be used for beam and dense block ground floors, suspended timber ground floor or solid concrete ground based floor.

25 mm Kooltherm K5 External Wall Board, with very low thermal conductivity, negligible smoke obscuration, suitable for use behind traditional and lightweight polymer modified renders and dry cladding systems, manufactured with a blowing agent that has zero ODP and low GWP and applicable to solid brick and solid blockwork wall, cavity block, brick and dense block wall.

Kooltherm K5 Pitched Roof Board, available in 25mm to 140mm thicknesses, with premium performance rigid thermo-insulation, also Class 0 fire rated insulation core, unaffected by air infiltration and resistant to the passage of water vapor. It can be applied in over and between rafter insulation, between and over joist insulation or between dwarf wall stud insulation.

Kooltherm K8 Phenolic Cavity Board, available in 25mm to 100 mm thicknesses, moisture resistant, it meets NHBC technical requirements when used with a 50 mm residual cavity while its low emissivity foil facings significantly increase the thermal resistance of the cavity.

Kooltherm K17 Phenolic Insualtion with Plasterboard and Kooltherm K18 Insulated Plasterboard, both available in thicknesses from 32,5mm to 92,5mm, has very low thermal conductivity, insulation, dry-lining and vapor control in one board and allows quick response heating. It can be used for all cavity masonry wall constructions solid or timber frame walls or ceilings.

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