Abstract
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a rigid cellular plastic material with an air-filled closed cellular structure manufactured by moulding beads or granules of expandable polystyrene or one of its copolymers. EPS is a good thermal insulator and is therefore often used as thermal insulation materials in buildings. One of the most important factors in selecting thermal insulation products for building applications is thermal conductivity. Other important parameters are water vapour transmission properties, water absorption, and mechanical properties including compressive stress at 10% deformation, etc. Determination of some of these properties is a difficult task and time-consuming. Density determination is a simple, fast, and inexpensive procedure. Once a relationship between these properties and density was established experimentally, measuring the density-related value of some of these properties can be estimated with a good approximation. In this paper, the relationship between compressive stress at 10% deformation and thermal conductivity with the density of expanded polystyrene (EPS) is studied. Tests for determination of density, thermal conductivity, and compressive stress at 10% deformation of domestic EPS panels were conducted on 209 samples. Experimental results showed that thermal conductivity decreases non-linearly with increasing EPS density. On the other hand, compressive stress at 10% deformation increases linearly with the increase of EPS density.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sulong N, Mustapa S, Rashid MKA (2019) Application of expanded polystyrene (EPS) in buildings and constructions: a review. J Appl Polym Sci 136(20):47529
Dyplast (2010) A comparison of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene insulation (XPS). Dyplast products. http://www.dyplastproducts.com/Customer_Bulletins/CUSTOMER_BULLETIN_0710.pdf. Accessed Apr 2011
Lasses C, Maag J, Hoibye L, Vesterlykke M, (2011) Alternatives to flame retarded EPS in buildings. COWI, Climate and pollution agency
YucelKT, Basyigit C, Ozel C 2003 Thermal insulation properties ofexpanded polystyrene as construction and insulating materials, In: 15th Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, Boulder-Colorado-USA
Lakatos A, Kalmar F (2013) Investigation of thickness and density dependence of thermal conductivity of expanded polystyrene insulation materials. Mater Struct 46:1101–1105
Khoukhi M, TahatM, (2015) Effect of temperature and density variations on thermal conductivity of polystyrene insulation materials in Oman climate. J Eng Phys Thermophys 88:994–998
Khoukhi M, Abdelbaqi S, Hassan A (2019) Yearly energy performance assessment of employing expanded polystyrene with variable temperature and moisture-thermal conductivity relationship. Materials 12:3000
SchellenbergJ WallisM (2010) Dependence of thermal properties of expandable polystyrene particle foam on cell size and density. J Cell Plast 46:209–222
Acierno S, Carotenuto C, Pecce M (2009) Compressive and thermal properties of recycled EPS foams. Polym Plast Technol Eng 49:13–19
Doroudiani S, Kortschot MT (2003) Polystyrene foams: III structure-tensile properties relationships. J Appl Polym Sci 90:1427–1434
Landro LD, Sala G, Olivieri D (2002) Deformation mechanisms and energy absorption of polystyrene foams for protective helmets. Polym Test 21:217–228
Temesgen EK, Andrews L, Negussey D (2019) Non-destructive testing for EPS geofoam quality assurance. In: 5th International Conference on Geofoam Blocks in Construction Applications. Springer, Cham
Solomon AA, Hemalatha G (2020) Characteristics of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and its impact on mechanical and thermal performance of insulated concrete form (ICF) system. Structures 23:204–213
Rydzkowski T, Reszka K, Szczypinski M, Marek M, Szczypinski MM, Kopczynska E, Thakur VK (2020) Manufacturing and evaluation of mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties of reduced graphene oxide-reinforced expanded polystyrene (EPS) nanocomposites. Adv Polym Technol 25:2020
Klempner D, Sendijarevic V, Aseeva RM (2004) Handbook of polymeric foams and foam technology. Hanser Publishers, Munich
Tran MP, Gong P, Detrembleur C, Thomassin JM, Buahom P, Saniei M, Kenig S, Parka CB, Lee SE (2016) Reducing thermal conductivity of polymeric foams with high volume expansion made from polystyrene/expanded graphite. PIERS Online 4:1870–1882
Krause P, Nowoswiat A (2019) Experimental studies involving the impact of solar radiation on the properties of expanded graphite polystyrene. Energies 13:75
Lakatos A, Deak I, Berardi U (2018) Thermal characterization of different graphite polystyrene. Int Rev Appl Sci Eng 9:163–168
Dogan B, Tan H (2019) Thenumerical and experimental investigation of the change of the thermal conductivity of expanded polystyrene at different temperatures and densities. Int J Polym Sci 2019:6350326
Yeh SK, Huang CH, Su CC, Cheng KC, Chuang TH, Guo WJ, Wang SF (2013) Effect of dispersion method and process variables on the properties of supercritical CO2 foamed polystyrene/graphite nanocomposite foam. Polym Eng Sci 53:2061–2072
Uygunoglu T, Ozgüven S, Calıs M (2016) Effect of plaster thickness on performance of external thermal insulation cladding systems (ETICS) in buildings. Constr Build Mater 122:496–504
Miskinis K, Dikavicius V, Buska A, Banionis K (2018) Influence of EPS, mineral wool and plaster layers on sound and thermal insulation of a wall: a case study. Appl Acoust 137:62–68
Zhou B, Yoshioka H, Noguchi T, Ando T (2018) Experimental study of expanded polystyrene (EPS) external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) masonry façade reaction-to-fire performance. Therm Sci Eng Prog 8:83–92
Mandilaras I, Atsonios I, Zannis G, Founti M (2014) Thermal performance of a building envelope incorporating ETICS with vacuum insulation panels and EPS. Energy Build 85:654–665
Khoukhi M (2018) The combined effect of heat and moisture transfer dependent thermal conductivity of polystyrene insulation material: impact on building energy performance. Energy Build 169:228–235
Tang N, Lei D, Huang D, Xiao R (2019) Mechanical performance of polystyrene foam (EPS): experimental and numerical analysis. Polym Test 73:359–365
EN 12667 (2001) Thermal performance of building materials and products, determination of thermal resistance by means of guarded hot plate and heat flow meter methods, products of high and medium thermal resistance
http://www.netzsch-thermal-analysis.com/en/. Accessed May 25, 2021
EN 1602 (2013) Thermal insulating products for building applications, determination of the apparent density
EN 12085 (2013) Thermal insulating products for building applications, determination of linear dimensions of test specimens
EN 826 (2013) Thermal insulating products for building applications, determination of compression behaviour
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Iran Research Center for Road, Housing and Urban Development, where the tests were performed. We would like to thank Ms Mahnaz Mazlomisani for assistance in conducting the experiments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
SohrabVeiseh, Yousefi, A.A. Compressive behavior and thermal conductivity-density correlation of expanded polystyrene thermal insulators. Iran Polym J 30, 849–854 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-021-00937-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-021-00937-6