Thermal insulation

Expanded Polystyrene — Thermal Conductivity

One of the most popular materials for the thermal insulation of buildings is expanded polystyrene.

The example shows a quality control run on a commercially available expanded polystyrene material (EPS 040). Ten samples of the same batch were tested at 24°C and, according to DIN EN 13163, at 10°C. It can clearly be seen that the deviation between the different samples is less than 1%. The determined Thermal ConductivityThermal conductivity (λ with the unit W/(m•K)) describes the transport of energy – in the form of heat – through a body of mass as the result of a temperature gradient (see fig. 1). According to the second law of thermodynamics, heat always flows in the direction of the lower temperature.thermal conductivity λ 90/90 value according to DIN 13163 was 0.03808 W/(m*K). (measurement with HFM 436 Lambda)