What are the consequences of using low-quality EPS insulation board?
The main manifestations of low-quality EPS products that we often encounter on construction sites are:
1) The bulk density of EPS is seriously insufficient. The density of EPS for construction shall not be lower than 15kg/m3. The use of low-density EPS will reduce the strength and is easy to deform. Plastering on this EPS board is easy to crack. Therefore, the use of low bulk density EPS in the external thermal insulation system will reduce the overall strength and surface cracking of the external thermal insulation system, and bring serious safety hazards to the external thermal insulation system.
2) Use ordinary B3 grade EPS to pretend to be B2\B1 grade flame-retardant EPS. The use of such low-quality insulation boards will reduce the EPS fire performance and increase the fire hazard of construction projects.
3) The solubility of EPS is not good. The cross section of the EPS insulation board with good solubility is that the foam particles are welded tightly and seamlessly. The EPS foam particles will not fall off when twisting by hand. For EPS insulation boards with poor solubility, the foam particles on the EPS section will fall off when twisted by hand. The pull-out strength of this low-quality insulation board is low.
4) In order to achieve the goal of reducing EPS materials and achieving bulk density compliance, some EPS manufacturers add a “weighting agent” substance to the EPS processing or directly mix fine quartz sand into the raw materials. The use of this inferior insulation board will reduce the EPS insulation performance and reduce the bonding strength with the polymer mortar.
What is the main application of EPS in construction engineering?
Because of its light weight, heat preservation, and processing characteristics, EPS is used as an insulation material for wall insulation and roof insulation in construction projects; as a sandwich material, it is used as a steel wire mesh frame board (such as Shule board) and Color steel sandwich panel; used as a decorative material to process EPS into various European-style art decorative components; used as a moisture-proof material to prevent moisture on the outer wall of the construction project below ±0.
How long is the life of EPS insulation board? What are the symptoms of aging?
EPS has been widely used in the field of building insulation, starting in Europe, which was affected by the oil crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. It has a history of 30-40 years and is still in use. The main characteristics of EPS insulation board aging are that the material becomes brittle and powdered, the color becomes yellow, and the outline is deformed. In use, as long as the EPS is not exposed to ultraviolet radiation for a long time, it can effectively slow down the aging speed of the EPS and extend the service life.