ARNON Product Launcher
COMPARISON DATA SHEET
BETWEEN
POLYETHYLENE FOAM INSULATION
AND
FIBER GLASS INSULATION
Continuous Working
Temperature
International Evaluation of
FG Insulation
Arnon Plastic Industries Company Ltd. would like to draw the attention of heat insulation users and traders to the way they can differentiate between the efficiency of Polyethylene (PE) foam and that of Fiberglass (FG).
This study is based on real figures and scientific facts.
It is simply the rate of heat flow for the actual thickness of a material. This characteristic varies with the variation of the density and the average temperature. The higher the density of the insulation material means the lower the rate of heat flow and thus a more efficient insulating material.
The table below shows that the density of PE insulation material available in the market is 3 times higher than that of FG insulation material and this means that its thermal conductivity is lower and better.
|
UNTS |
PE HEAT INSULATION |
FG HEAT INSULATION |
||
|
DENSITY (KG/M3) |
30 |
10 |
||
|
THICKNESS (M) |
0.008 |
0.015 |
0.025 |
0.050 |
|
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (W/M.0C) |
0.036 |
0.040 |
||
This is the scientific norm to measure the insulation capacity of a material. The higher the heat resistance, the better is the insulator. An important factor for determining the heat resistance of an insulating material is the thickness of that material, so the formula for determining it is as follows:
THICKNESS (T)
THERMAL RESISTANCE (R) = ---------------------------------------------- THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (K)
But the question here is how can we compare between the two insulating materials?
The comparison is easy indeed and could be obtained with a simple calculation on condition that the characteristics of both materials are equal i.e. same density and thickness.
The table below shows a clear comparison and explains what we mean.
|
UNIT |
PE HEAT INSULATION |
FG INSULATION |
||
|
DENSITY (KG/M3) |
30 |
32 * |
||
|
THICKNESS (M) |
0.008 |
0.015 |
0.008 |
0.015 |
|
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (W/M.0C) |
0.036 |
0.034 |
||
|
THERMAL RESISTANCE M2.0C/W AT 240C MEAN TEMPERATURE |
0.22 |
0.41 |
0.23 |
0.44 |
*The closest comparable density of FG insulation to PE insulation at equal thicknesses.
As we can see, these figures show that the thermal resistance of PE insulation and FG insulation are almost the same and this is the reason why Arnon Plastic Industries introduced the PE insulation products with thicknesses of 8mm and 15mm.
PE heat insulation contains PE-68 fire block, which prevents the material to make flame in case of fire and instead let it melt into liquid.
FG heat insulation is made of mineral fibers with an addition of a paper and aluminum layer that is laminated on it. In case of fire, this paper and aluminum layer will burn very fast (similar to all paper materials) while the mineral fibers will turn to ashes (can be tested with a cigarette lighter).
CONTINUOUS WORKING
TEMPERATURE
PE heat insulation material's working temperature ranges between -400C up to +900C and this range is more than enough for it to be considered as a thermal insulator (knowing that the Gulf region doesn't require better than this range) and here we can say that for industrial oven insulation only, FG insulation might be better than PE insulation NIA (National insulation organization)
As it is known, and after a period of time, some industrial and agricultural steel buildings leak in winter. This thing is very dangerous if the building is insulated with FG insulation, since it is an open celled material that is laminated with a paper layer so it absorbs all the leaked water and drops it inside the plant along with some mineral fibers which spread on the ground and then in the air when the water dries.
PE insulation material is a closed celled material that doesn't absorb water and when the building leaks, water will slide on the sheet to drop outside the building.
INTERNATIONAL EVALUATION OF
FG INSULATION
- OSHA announced that fiberglass is officially designated as possibly carcinogenic (Cancerous).
- GREEN LIVING ECHO-HOME listed its dangers and concentrated on showing the alternatives.
- NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC) recently compared insulation types and said: Fiberglass has the most health risks.
- AMERICAN GOVERNMENT announced that fiberglass is officially designated as possibly carcinogenic (Cancerous) and carries government-mandated warning labels.
In addition to what is mentioned, there are many organizations dealing with this topic so all what you have to do is surf through the internet and you will be amazed with the results.
In the end, Arnon Plastic Industries would be glad to host users and dealers of its PE insulation material and provide them with scientific proofs and show them real experiments as a support to what was mentioned.
Download Version
Contact Webmaster for more information. Designed & Developed by ARNON I.T. Dep't.