Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 24
By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:
For the first time in Azerbaijan, the construction company TITAN Group launched production of sandwich panels filled with polyisocyanurate (PIR), the company’s Vice-President Zemfira Ismayilova told Trend.
She said that PIR sandwich panels are fire-resistant and are used for the construction of residential buildings, walls, roofs, etc.
“Our company is the only one in the construction market of Azerbaijan that produces such panels,” she noted. “We have recently received a Russian certificate of conformity verifying the system of quality management, environmental management and occupational safety in relation to the production of sandwich panels made of PUR (polyurethane) and PIR, container transformer houses, industrial gates and technological doors, doors for cold stores, freezer cabinets, refrigerated display cases, metal furniture, commercial shelves, electrical, gas and frying stoves and other products.”
She noted that the construction company has been engaged for many years in the production of PUR sandwich panels, intended for cold stores.
“Unlike traditional thermal insulation, PUR and PIR panels have several advantages,” she added. “First, it is low thermal conductivity, because inside the PUR and PIR cells there is gas with extremely low thermal conductivity, the thermal conductivity of insulation materials ranges from 0.020 W/mK to 0.025 W/mK. Secondly, new products provide material density and extremely low water absorption. Because of its closed cell structure, PUR and PIR absorb no more than one percent by weight. Such a low rate cannot be achieved in any other insulation material for sandwich panels.”
She added that PUR and PIR can be safely attributed to environmental materials, since during operation they don’t emit harmful substances, such as phenols or styrenes.
“PIR belongs to the class of thermosetting polymers that don’t change their shape with increasing temperature,” she said. “Moreover, PIR sandwich panels are fire-resistant and have high fire-fighting properties of this type of thermal insulation. When exposed to flame, PIR is coked and a protective carbon crust forms on its surface that is a natural barrier to fire and blocks its spread inside the sandwich panel.”
She noted that the PUR sandwich panel is a lightweight, fine-meshed material that is used as a thermal insulation material.
“PUR and PIR sandwich panels are fundamentally different in terms of fire safety and are mainly used in the construction of cold stores, vegetable stores, buildings with high-frequency equipment,” she said.
“Polyurethane belongs to the class of combustible, flammable materials that emit toxic gases during combustion. This property limits the use of sandwich panels from polyurethane in the construction of buildings with high fire safety requirements. This is while polyisocyanurate has high resistance to fire, doesn’t support combustion and is capable of self-attenuation without supporting flame.”