Thermal insulation properties of rigid polyurethane foam modified with fly ash- a comparative study

Limitations in natural resource availability have a significant impact on prices of thermal energy. As a result, a growth of interest in the technology of insulation materials is observed. The paper presents a comparative analysis of rigid polyurethane foams, which are widely used as insulation materials. Rigid polyurethane foam with 10 wt.% addition of coal fly ash is compared to a reference foam, without any addition. The thermal conductivity coefficient of polyurethane materials was determined by the Hot Disk device. Heat transfer for both types of foams was modelled. As a result of the numerical modelling, the temperature field for the wall was obtained. The results of the computations have shown differences in energy losses. Conducted analyses demonstrate that the modified polyurethane foam (with the addition of coal fly ash) performs better as an insulation material. The reduction of heat requirement is 2.9 %. An environmental analysis of the insulation materials was also carried out. Using the SUBRAW index method it was calculated that embodied energy and the carbon footprint are lower in the case of the modified polyurethane compared to the unmodified foam.