Material  characteristics

During the last 40 years polyurethane has made an important contribution to our daily living comfort. Not only is it used to insulate buildings and industrial applications, it is also applied as furniture and mattress fillings, in cars and in other industrial and domestic applications.
In recent years the insulation business has seen an increasing demand for polyisocyanurate foam due to its better fire behaviour compared to polyurethane.
Part of that product family is TAUfoam by Recticel, a specific polyisocyanurate foam sold under the name Powerdeck.

Excellent insulating value

Eurothane and Powerdeck insulation boards have an extremely low thermal conductivity, lambda value, due to their closed cell structure. The declared λ-value for all Recticel insulation boards is below 0.028 W/mK and certain products have a much lower lambda value, e.g. 0.023 W/mK (see product data sheets).
Eurothane and Powerdeck products insulate up to 40% better than some other insulation materials. This not only means an important space saving but also a reduction in terms of installation time.

Environmental information

By definition thermal insulation materials are beneficial for the the environment - they help reduce our energy consumption and are an important tool in lowering carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. There are issues to consider however in the manufacture of these products.

Traditionally CFCs, and more recently HCFCs and HFCs, were used as the blowing agent for polyurethane foams - they gave an excellent thermal performance and were very stable chemicals to process. The recognition of the damage that CFCs cause to the ozone layer lead to increasing environmental pressure in the 1990s to the point were CFC use was banned and later HCFC use was also banned. Recticel recognised that alternative blowing agents were required and were one of the first manufacturers to introduce CFC and HCFC-free products in the mid 1990s.

All of our products have zero ozone depletion potential.

CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs are also all powerful greenhouse gases. Pentane on the other hand has zero impact on climate change - the 'Green Guide to Specification' and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirming a Global Warming Potential of zero.

All of our products have zero global warming potential.

These issues have been addressed in 'The Green Guide to Specification - an Environmental Profiling System for Building Materials and Components.' from the BRE (Anderson, Shiers & Sinclair).

Pentane blown polyurethane foams achieve an overall 'A' Rating in the Green Specification Guide.

Recticel's polyurethane foams have the benefits of an excellent thermal performance (thermal conductivity as low as 0.023 W/mK) and achieved at a very low density. This combination means that the energy input into the product is minimal especially when compared to materials such as bricks, blocks and cement. The energy used in the manufacture of polyurethane foam is repaid many times over, once installed, during the lifetime of the building.

Excellent dimensional stability

Lightweight

Board dimensions

Roofing boards are normally 1200 x 600 mm for ease of handling on the roof. 2400 x 1200 mm boards are ideal for covering larger surfaces quickly. The board for cavity wall insulation, Eurowall, is 1200 x 450 mm to suit the brick coursing.

Good walkability

Compatible with different waterproofing membranes

Excellent resistance to wind uplift

Excellent fire behaviour

Minimum/maximum temperatures

Health & safety information

All of our products are based on polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foam technology. The boards are considered as 'end products' and are not considered 'dangerous' under current legislation. Click here to download our Material Health & Safety Data Sheet.

Resistance to chemical products