WHAT FACTORS SHOULD YOU CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING INSULATED METAL PANELS?

With the increase in the use of insulating panels, many customers think that insulated panels became a commodity.

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WHAT IS A COMMODITY?

&#;A commodity is an economic good or service that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.&#; (Wikipedia)

In our opinion, considering insulation panels as a commodity is certainly a mistake.

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING AN INSULATED PANEL?

BEFORE THE PURCHASE

Before the purchase of insulated panels, you have to identify the needs of your project.

1. What will be the application of the panel: roof or wall?
2. Is the working environment of the insulated panel: aggressive or non-aggressive?
3. What are the fire safety requirements of the project?
4. Aesthetic needs of the project are important?
5. What will be the resistance to snow loads on the roof?
6. What will be the resistance to wind loads of the wall?
7. Do you need noise isolation as well?

WHAT TYPE OF INDUSTRIAL INSULATION IS THE BEST?

There is no best type of insulation. There is a type of insulation that better fits your project needs.

INSULATED PANELS ARE NOT ALL THE SAME

The insulating panels are not all the same. Certain characteristics make insulated panels different from each other. Therefore, it is very important to check the features of insulated panels to comply with project requirements first. And do not rely only on the price of insulated panels.

For example, the density of PUR or PIR foam has always to be at least 40 kg/m3. Or the thickness of the sheets that has to align with project needs in terms of resistance, aesthetic needs, and efficiency.

So, is it wrong to call insulated panels commodities? Yes, it is wrong. Because we can have two products with different prices but different characteristics as well. Therefore, it would be unfair to offer the same price for a 40 mm insulated panel with both sides pre-painted in 100 micron PVC and a 40 mm panel with both sides pre-painted in 25-micron polyester. Why?

Because it is a product that has superior characteristics. Therefore, it cannot have the same price as a product that has inferior characteristics.

WHAT ARE THE CORE ADVANTAGES OF SANDWICH PANELS?

Core features of sandwich panels that have produced the rapid growth of their usage, particularly in construction and refrigeration, include:

1. Thermal resistance. The use of sandwich panels minimizes thermal bridges through the joints;
2. Acoustic insulation: the installation of a system with sandwich panels contributes to reducing the diffusion of noise;
3. Fire behavior. Sandwich panels have different fire behaviors, resistance, and reaction, depending on the type of insulation and the metal sheet thickness. The user will need to choose between the different sandwich panel types, depending on the requirements;
4. Impermeability: The assembly system of sandwich panels helps create air and water-tight buildings.

PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

For example, if you have to build a cold-room for sea-foods processing, we recommend using a type of coating that better resists the aggressive environment. Here you can find recommendations when choosing an FM-approved insulated metal panel for your project.

CONCLUSION

After reading this blog post, you know what to consider when choosing an insulated panel for your project.

CONTACT US

To learn more about the factors you should consider when choosing insulated panels, you can get in touch at +44 . You can also contact us via or by completing the contact form below. Once you reach out to us, we can provide you with a free quote and can also discuss our products and services further.

The current international standards that regulate the specifications and manufacturing requirements of sandwich panels are a safeguard for the end buyer, which allows them to obtain a product that complies with their specifications.  Insulated panels&#; fire resistance is related to the manufacturer&#;s certifications through American and European standards.  Both standards are very similar in terms of requirements so let&#;s learn a little more about European standards.

INSULATED PANELS AND FIRE

Insulating panels fire resistance is one of the most relevant issues when using it as roofing and cladding material. Various types of buildings can be built with this prefabricated product, from those of the agricultural and veterinary type to those of a manufacturing nature, warehouses and leisure centers. In any case, a common question is about its resistance to fire. However, resistance is one of the elements to be analyzed, because more than that, the behavior of the material when fire is present must be known and understood. This means a broader point of view that refers to how the product reacts to spreading flames, generating dripping of molten material and producing smoke.

The answer to this question would be that, in very general terms, insulating panels have a good to excellent reaction to fire, however, this cannot be asserted if it does not comply with the applicable safety regulations.

The objective of this article is to provide general knowledge about panel&#;s attributes against fire that are available as product of its manufacturing processes, and how to select these according to the specific conditions of each project.

This content is based on European standards for European manufacturers. For American market, it will be necessary to see their equivalences.

EUROPEAN REGULATIONS

Major regulations for the manufacture of insulating panels in Europe:

Wiskind New Materials Product Page

• UNE-EN : Self-supporting insulating double-sided metal sandwich panel. Factory made products. Specs.
• UNE-EN : + A1: Reaction to fire tests of construction products, excluding floor coverings, exposed to thermal attack caused by a single burning object.
• UNE-EN : + A1: Flat steel products, continuously coated with organic materials (pre-lacquered). Technical supply conditions.
• UNE-EN -1: Classification based on the fire behavior of construction products and building elements. Part 1: Classification from data obtained in reaction to fire tests.

CURRENT VERSION OF THE STANDARD

With the unification of criteria by the European countries, minimum standards of compliance are established in many areas of manufacturing and material testing. This is when the manufacture of insulating panels is governed by the series of rules set out above.

Over the years, the same manufacturers reach significant shares of technological achievements on materials for the manufacture of the insulating panels. With this, the institutions establish more restrictive norms in order to increase the security guarantees in the construction systems and the buildings themselves to make them safer.

The latest version in force to date is UNE-EN : . This requires manufacturing under these criteria as of August 8, in order to be marketed and obtain the CE marking for those insulated self-supporting double-sided metal panels.

The main modification with respect to the previous regulation in its version and its revision is the evaluation of the reaction to fire performance. It is in this section where changes have been seen in the way of conducting tests and a new way of classifying them. This way of categorizing them affects the SBI standard (UNE-EN ) which refers to reaction to fire tests of construction products. With a modification in force in and to the UNE-EN -2 standard, better known as the small burner test.

Among the changes are:

• Possibility of testing panels with covered edges, as long as in the panel manufacturing process, the core is completely protected on all sides by a metal sheet. And that at the time of its installation no cuts or drilling are required.
• Panels with asymmetric faces or with different sheet thicknesses on their sides, must be classified with the one with the lowest performance. Or where appropriate, the values corresponding to the tests for each of the faces must be specified.

To better understand the properties that we can obtain according to our requirements or needs in our projects, we must know the 4 factors that influence the conditions of regulatory compliance with this Euroclassification:

• The steel and its coatings,
• Typology of the insulating core.
• Design of the joint between panels.
• Panel mounting and fixing system.

Each of these sections deserves an exclusive article to talk about its properties, types and attributes; but at present we will focus on getting to know the classifications established by the regulations based on the tests that mainly affect the insulating core, which is one of the elements that have the greatest impact on compliance.

EUROCLASSES AND SUBCLASSES CLASSIFICATIONS FOR WALLS AND CEILINGS. STANDARD UNE-EN -1:

This classification is composed of a series of letters and numbers in a sequence that establishes the resistance to fire, smoke opacity and droplet/particle fall.

It is important to know this classification, since it will determine the type of panel to be used according to:

1. Its use (commercial, residential, industrial, etc) or
2. Its location or area in the building.

EUROCLASS: FIRE RESISTANCE OF INSULATING PANELS

Ratings begin with a letter and coding starts with the letter A, which are those materials that have the best performance against fire. Its benefits are less as the letters advance, until they reach F, which in simple words means that there is combustion under the action of a flame.

In the case of the sandwich panels, current European regulations do not allow the manufacturers to produce anything lower than C under their least restrictive conditions.

We must be clear that the definition of &#;contribution to fire&#; is considered the energy released by a product that influences the growth of fire in situations both before and after the start of it. What is explained in the following chart:

A chart for insulated panels fire resistance main categories

SUBCLASS: SMOKE OPACITY VALUE

This value establishes 3 classifications according to the production of smoke emitted when carrying out the controlled tests. The best value is represented by the S1 rating and the lowest is S3.

Smoke opacity due to density and spreading speed

SUBCLASS: FALLING DROPS / PARTICLES

During the flame exposure test, it is also analyzed whether the core produces droplets or particles that could be a source of propagation of fire. They are marked according to the following criteria:

Drops and particles of insulated metal panels when fire is present

This is an example of this classification for a certain insulating panel with intermediate conditions in terms of reaction to fire:

B-S2, d0

The following scheme will better clarify the classification:

Fire categories according to European standards

Based on the previous image, we can read the classification as follows:

B indicates that it has a limited contribution to fire, s2 denotes that it produces smoke of medium opacity and d0 means that it presents no drop of drops or particles.

The most common classifications that we find in the manufacture of insulated panels are:

• Rock wool insulated panel: A1. The highest
• PIR panel: B &#; S1, d0
• PUR panel: B &#; S2, d0

CHOOSING PANELS ACCORDING TO NEEDS AND FIRE RESISTANCE

As a conclusion, it should be noted that in order to choose insulated panels it&#;s not enough to determine the thickness of the core foam or the gauge of the metal, especially in buildings where the thermal issue and fire resistance is important, for example those that will be used intensively by humans or the if flammable materials will be held inside. It is extremely important to know the fire behavior classification of the sandwich panel that will be used either for roof, walls or floor.

If you want to make further inquiries about this or other European standards, you can directly consult the following links:

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Fire Rated Coolroom Panels.

• Technical Building Code of Spain: https://www.codigotecnico.org/ 
• Spanish Association for Standardization: https://www.une.org/