Idea from New Product Conference in Holland

During 6-8 July 2011, I was invited to share the experience in the interesting seminar in Holland.  It was  the 2-day programs where colleagues from all over the world gathered to share their comment and market knowledge on the launching plan of new product.  Also, we discussed several things related to market in each different countries.

There were also invited guests to our seminar to gain our knowledge as well.

Thermaflex's new product has been invented from the idea that plastic insulation is less flexible than rubber insulation.   Its "Lambda Value" is more stable than rubber (rubber tends to have higher (worse) lambda value with more thickness).  This is the newly innovative product which is not "Pure PE" anymore.  People always think of our product as "PE Insulation", but now we call our new product line as "Polyolefin (PO) Insulation".

Talking about Polyolefin, you need to take a look at the family of plastic.  Polyolefin is like the main category where it has its sub-category as PE, PP, PVC, and so on.  This is the newly developed formula where Thermaflex has reached its first real flexible insulation to supply to the market, yet still maintain its high quality.  The R&D of Thermaflex Holland has boasted to reach Class 0 with this new product.  At the moment, it's under the production test run and test certificate submission.

From this seminar, I have learned a lot, especially I have learned that most countries have a unique requirement from their customer.  For example, in Russia they need to have the test called "Linear Material Shrinkage", which is the test of shrinkage at the temperature of 80 Celsius for several hours test period.  This kind of test is not needed, or I can say it's not even recognized in most of Asian region.

Another similar idea of unique requirement is for market in Australia, where they always refer to the insulation property by using "R Value".  Again, this R-Value is not something we are interested in Asia, but Lambda value is more important to customers in Asia.

There is a "funny" info that I learned from this seminar, which I will tell you later.  However, this funny info relates to the basic knowledge of SCC (Stress Corrosion Cracking).

SCC is the serious issue when the insulation is not installed correctly.  It's related to the moisture that will penetrate into the layer of insulation and pipe.  However, the 'fastest corrosion' is found in the "Nitrile Rubber Insulation"( not EPDM Rubber Insulation).  This is due to the blowing agent of Nitrile Rubber consist of Ammoniac, which will react to the moisture, and stimulate faster SCC.  After installing for long time there is a chance that moisture could leak into the joint of insulation.  The moisture will then have a reaction with the ammoniac in Nitrile Rubber, which eventually will cause SCC.  After all, the correct installation is very important.

The funny thing I heard from this seminar is that one of the rubber insulation suppliers claims that their product has "SCC Indicator" property.  They said with their product the SCC can be detected by bare eyes.  That is when there is a "swell" of insulation surface.

Well, the rubber insulation of any kind (either nitrile or EPDM) has a very high Water Vapour Diffusion ( µ-value), but the fact is that they can reach such high value due to their 'skin'. If skin is scratched, then µ-value will be gone.  Their inner layer is not 100% closed cell structure, unlike PE or Polyolefin product.

You can do the comparison test easily by cut the same size of both Rubber and PE insulation samples (any PE insulation would be OK) into the bucket of water for a week.  Before you put into the water, weighing each sample weight (at the same size, you will notice PE has less weight than Rubber which is due to the difference in density).  After a week, you weighing again both samples' weight.  You will then see the difference.  You will see which one absorb water!

There are also more interesting points from this seminar about our product, test certificate, and competitors.  Let me continue this later.

Cheers!

Fiber Glass & Rubber (VS) PE Insulation

Normally, people are fond of using fiber glass, a kind of open cell structure insulation, to be their priority when thinking of ceiling insulation or duct insulation (due to cheaper cost!).  The idea has started to change recently by concerning the disadvantage of fiber glass.

Fiber Glass is in fact harmful to human, yet environment.  The contact to human skin will cause a severe irritation.  If we inhale the dust of fiber glass, it will stay in our lung and can be seen as black spot via X-Ray Film.  Moreover, in the situation of fire, fiber glass will release a high density of smoke, as well as toxic vapor.

"Technically, the open cell insulation has weak point due to its absorption of humidity.  This is the reason fiber glass will need to have protection, the aluminum foil."

In the work such as ceiling or duct insulation, the aluminum foil of fiber glass could be damaged by small creatures e.g. rats.  When the skin (aluminum foil) damaged, humidity/moisture will go inside.  Due to the open cell structure, fiber glass material will keep the moist.  As time goes by, theoretically fiber glass will get thinner thickness.  This means the thermal conductivity property will be lower over the time.

"This is the renovation of my office.
People have to wear a lot of things for the maxumum protction of  their health,
in order to remove the old fiber glass that was installed long time ago!"

You can follow this link to see: How we attach PE Sheet Insulation to Ceiling Tile

Rubber insulation is also not 100% closed cell.  There is a test where you can cut small pieces of rubber insulation and put into a container full of water, then leave it for a week or two.  You will see rubber also absorb water.  In reality, rubber insulation has a nice skin, which is the strong point to prevent moisture absorbed into its inner layer.

PE Insulation, on the contrary, is a 100% closed cell structure.  Even the skin is scratched or damaged, inner layer is still closed cell.  As the result, moisture/humidity can not be absorbed, and you can be sure the product will stay with you long time.  Talking about moisture, you can also test the same way as rubber for a week or two dip PE Insulation into a container full of water.  It will not absorb any water.  Well, test both materials at the same time and see for your eyes!

"The absorption of water can be measured by weighing the test specimen before and after dipping into the water."

Further info about PE Insulation, PE Insulation (Non-Crosslink Type)  can be 'recycled' and not harmful to the environment.  If you contact the "Green Label" office, which has its branches in many countries, you will find out that PE is already in the safe material list.  Unlike other material, where you have to submit many relevant documents in order to use the renown logo of "Green Label".