Faced foam insulation board and froth-foaming method for making same

Abstract

A method for continuously producing an insulation board comprising a rigid plastic foam core having two major surfaces and a facing material on one or both of the major surfaces, the method including conveying a facing material along a production line, depositing a partially expanded froth foam of a plastic mixture, which contains at least one frothing agent, on the facing material, and further expanding and curing the froth foam in contact wiht the facing material to form the insulation board. The board is particularly useful as roof insulation.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a method for continuously producing a rigid plastic foam insulation board with a facing member on at least one major surface thereof, and more particularly to a froth-foaming method for continuously producing an organic foam core faced on one or both sides with organic or inorganic fibers, preferably glass fibers. It also relates to the product formed by such a method.DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ARTRigid foam products have been reinforced in various ways to give them added strength or other desirable physical properties which the foam itself is incapable of providing. These foam products have become increasingly useful in the building industry since they possess many properties which make them extremely valuable in this field. They have high structural strength coupled with relatively low density. Furthermore, the rigid foam products are excellent thermal insulators because of their fine closed cell structure. Many different techniques ha...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for the continuous production of a rigid foam plastic faced with organic or inorganic fibers in a simple and economical manner, and without significant loss of foamable chemicals by wetting through the fibrous material.

It is a still further object of the present invention to produce an insulation board comprising a rigid foam plastic core which is faced with organic or inorganic fibers and is strong, lightweight and dimensionally stable.

It is an additional object of the present invention to produce an insulation board having a high insulation value and superior fire resistant properties, which would qualify for model building code approvals and approval by the Factory Mutual Research Corporation, an independent risk certification firm.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a glass faced rigid foam plastic insulation board which has especially tough and impact-resistant major surfaces, and exhibits overall good properties, including low friability, and good dimensional stability and thermal resistance, and can be used in the building industry, particularly as roof insulation with superior fire resistant properties, such as an FM Class I rating for insulated steel deck roofs.

Problems solved by technology

One difficulty with this approach is that bleeding of the liquid foamable material through the glass fibers can bring about material loss and contamination of equipment, and generally impair commercial production.

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