In the field of materials for thermal and acoustic insulation, a particular type of glass called cellular glass.
It consists of a structure with very small pores, separated from each other by a thin and compact glassy skeleton that makes the product light and very resistant to microorganisms.
Cellular glass is a closed cell foam insulation material. The starting material is composed of 66% recycled glass and the remaining percentage of quartz sand to which other substances are added, especially calcium carbonate, potassium teldspar, ferrous oxide, sodium carbonate.
The raw materials are melted at 1.250 ° C to a mass of glass to which, after being ground, carbon is added as a propellant.
This mixture is placed in nickel-chromium steel tanks and oxidized the carbon to carbon dioxide in expansion ovens at a temperature of about 1.000 ° C.
During this procedure, gas bubbles form which cause the mixture to expand 8-9 times.
The raw material then passes from the tanks to the lamination furnace where it undergoes a slow cooling process that creates a depression in the gaseous cells, then it is cut into the required format.
Cellular glass panels are particularly suitable for perimeter insulation along external walls in contact with the ground, under foundation plinths, on terraces or flat roofs and in general in all parts of the building sensitive to humidity.
The processing is performed with hand saws. The fixing is carried out with special adhesives or bitumen-based or directly in the fine gravel, in the sand or in fresh concrete. The product may be damaged due to mechanical stress during assembly.
Another field of application are insulating coatings of pipes and tanks. The insulating material, being watertight to the diffuser, does not get damp due to condensation water.
Cellular glass is vapor and watertight, it does not absorb any moisture. It is a material resistant to frost and atmospheric conditions and withstands strong compressions well. The panels are however relatively light and non-flammable, non-putrescible and resistant to organic solvents and acids.
