Building Material Science-III

AP-225

Lecture-15

Ar. Nidhi Sachdeva

Previously discussed
• Dampness introduction
• Causes and Effects of Dampness
• Membrane Damp proofing
• Integral Damp proofing
• Surface treatment
• Guniting
• Cavity wall construction
Thermal Insulation of Buildings?

• In general, people living in hot regions wants to make their inside atmosphere very
cool similarly people living in cold regions, wants warmer atmosphere inside.

• But, we know that the heat transfer takes place from hotter to colder areas. As a
result, heat loss happens. To overcome this loss in buildings thermal insulation is
provided to maintain required temperature inside the building.

• The aim of thermal insulation is to minimize the heat transfer between outside
and inside of building.
How Heat Is Transmitted
• Conduction: the transmission of heat from
one molecule to another within a material or
from one material to another when they are
held in direct contact.

• Convection: the transfer of heat by another

agent, such as air or water. Convection
Currents: the flow of air that is created
within the space.

• Radiation: the transmission of heat through

a wave motion, similar to the way light is
transmitted.
Materials and Methods of Thermal Insulation of
Buildings
• Slab or block insulation

• Blanket insulation

• Loose fill insulation

• Bat insulating materials

• Insulating boards

• Reflective sheet materials

• Lightweight materials
Slab or Block Insulation
• The blocks are made of mineral wool, cork
board, cellular glass, and cellular rubber or
saw dust etc.

• These are fixed to the walls and roofs to

prevent heat loss and maintains required
temperature.

• These boards are available in 60cmx120cm

(or more area) with 2.5cm thickness.
Blanket Insulation
▪ Blanket insulation materials are available in
blanket shape or like paper rolls which are
directly spread over the wall or ceilings.

▪ They are flexible and having a thickness

about 12 to 80mm. these blankets are
made of animal hair or cotton or wood
fibers etc..
Loose Fill Insulation
• Stud space is provided in wall where
windows and doors are to be provided.

• In that studding space of wall loose fill of

some insulating materials is provided.

• The materials are rock wool, wood fiber

wool, cellulose etc
Bat Insulating Materials
• These are also available as blanket rolls but
bat insulating rolls are having more thickness
than blanket type materials.

• These are also spreader over the walls or

ceilings
Insulating Boards
• Insulating boards are made from pulp of
wood, cane or other materials.

• These pulp is pressed hard with some stress

at suitable temperature to make it as a solid
boards.

• They are available in many sizes in the

market. And these are generally provided
for interior lining of walls as well as for
partition walls
Reflective Sheet Materials
• Reflective sheet materials like aluminum sheets,
gypsum boards, steel sheet Materials will have
more reflectivity and low emissivity. So, these
materials are having high heat resistance.

• The heat gets reduced when solar energy strike

and gets reflected.

• These are fixed outside of the structure to stop

the heat entrance into the building
 Lightweight Materials
• By using light weight aggregates while preparing concrete mixture will also results good
results in heat loss preventions.

• Concrete will have more heat resistance if it is made of light weight aggregates like blast
furnace slag, vermiculite, burnt clay aggregates etc.
 Methods of Heat Insulation or thermal
Insulation
• Heat enters in to building through: roofs, terraces, walls, windows, doors, opening etc:
• Method of heat insulating the roofs
• In case of installing the heat resisting material it can be placed above but below the
waterproof course.
• In case of internal application the material may be fixed with adhesive , on the
underside of roofs with in the rooms.
• The false ceiling of insulating materials may be as shown in fig. as false ceiling
Method of heat insulating the roofs

• Shining or reflective insulation material may be installed or laid on the top of the roof

• Flat roof may be kept cool by flooded water either by storing or spraying .

• White washing of the roof before each summer also helps in heat insulation.

• Suitable shading device on the exposed surface also reduce the surface temp
Method of heat insulating the exposed walls
• The thickness of the walls may be increased depending upon the extent of insulation
derived
• Hollow walls or cavity wall construction may be adopted
• For partition walls, air space may be adopted by fixing the sheathing of hard boards or
battens on either side of the wall.
• White wash or distemper of light colour may be applied on the exposed surface of the
wall to incense thermal insulating value.
• The wall may be constructed out of suitable heat insulating material, provide structure
requirements are met like cement concrete, fibre class sand stone, granite, timber and
other which should have high thermal resistivity and low thermal conductivity.
• The heat insulating materials of different types as shown in fig, can be installed on the
inside of the exposed wall and inside/outside of ceiling I order to reduce the thermal
transmittance to the required limits
Method of heat insulating the exposed walls
Common building thermal insulation materials
Inorganic Materials
Glass mineral wool
• Made from molten glass, usually with 20% to 30% recycled industrial waste and post-consumer
content.
• The material is formed from fibres of glass arranged using a binder into a texture similar to wool.
The process traps many small pockets of air between the glass, and these small air pockets result
in high thermal insulation properties. The density of the material can be varied through pressure
and binder content.
Inorganic Materials
Stone mineral wool
• Stone mineral wool is a furnace product
of molten rock at a temperature of about
1600 °C, through which a stream of air or
steam is blown.
• More advanced production techniques
are based on spinning molten rock in
high-speed spinning heads somewhat like
the process used to produce candy floss.
• The final product is a mass of fine,
intertwined fibres with a typical diameter
of 2 to 6 micrometres.
• Mineral wool may contain a binder, often
a Ter-polymer, and an oil to reduce
dusting
Inorganic Materials
• Production process of mineral wool insulation
• Glass and stone wool insulation are fibre-based products that deliver outstanding
thermal performance.
• Both are made from plentiful, locally-sourced, renewable natural resources – sand and
basalt rock are the basic raw materials of mineral wool.
• Raw materials: The raw materials are measured and sent to a melting furnace. o For
stone wool à rock or recycled material plus energy o For glass wool à the raw materials
are sand, limestone and soda ash, as well as recycled off-cuts from the production
process.
 Organic materials
Expanded polystyrene (EPS)
Polystyrene is a synthetic aromatic polymer
made from the monomer styrene.
Polystyrene can be solid or foamed.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a rigid and tough,
closed-cell foam.
It is usually white and made of pre-expanded
polystyrene beads.
Polystyrene foams are produced using blowing
agents that form bubbles and expand the foam.
Although it is a closed-cell foam, expanded
polystyrene is not entirely waterproof or vapour
proof.
 Organic materials
Extruded polystyrene (XPS)
• XPS (extruded polystyrene) is also plastic foam based on polystyrene that is formed by adding gas
during extrusion not by expanding beads containing gas; which is how EPS is formed.
• Extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) consists of closed cells, offers improved surface roughness and higher
stiffness and reduced thermal conductivity.
• It is slightly denser and therefore slightly stronger than EPS.
Organic materials
Wood fibre
• Industrially produced wood fibre insulation
was introduced around twenty years ago after
engineers from the timber producing areas of
Europe devised new ways of transforming
timber waste from thinning and factories into
insulation boarding.
Organic materials
Cellulose insulation
• Cellulose insulation is a material made from recycled newspaper.
• The paper is shredded and inorganic salts, such as boric acid, are added for resistance
to fire, mould, insects and vermin.
• The insulation is installed either blown or damp-sprayed depending on application
Organic materials
Sheep’s Wool
• Wool insulation is made from sheep wool fibres that are either mechanically held
together or bonded using between 5% and 15% recycled polyester adhesive to form
insulating batts and rolls.
• The wool used to manufacture insulation is the wool discarded as waste by other
industries due to its colour or grade
Organic materials
Hemp Fibres
Hemp fibres are produced from hemp straw of the hemp plant.
Hemp grows up to a height of nearly 4 metres within a period of 100-120 days. Because the
plants shade the soil, no chemical protection or toxic additives are required for hemp
cultivation.
The product is composed of, usually, 85% hemp fibre with the balance made up of polyester
binding and 3-5% soda added for fire proofing
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