GB2097402A

GB2097402A - Foamable phenolic resin compositions for building materials

Info

Publication number: GB2097402A
Application number: GB8111338A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: INSULBOARD Pty Ltd
Current assignee: INSULBOARD Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1981-04-10
Filing date: 1981-04-10
Publication date: 1982-11-03

Abstract

A foamable composition comprises a major amount of phenol or phenol-like resin, minor amounts of one or more foaming agents and a foam stabilizer. The composition is used to form a building component such as a block or panel having insulating properties.

Description

SPECIFICATION Foam compositions and building materials produced therefrom The invention relates to a composition which has particular utility in producing material for use in the building industry. Whilst the following description refers to the use of the composition as a liner material, it is not to be assumed that the invention is so limited.

Plaster has been the basic lining material for the insides of buildings for hundreds of years.

Various modifications to the plaster composition have been developed over the years and at the present time this remains the major material used for lining the inside of buildings. The modern lining plaster is faced on both sides by thin paper In doing this the sheet is ready for immediate painting. Further, the paper contributes to the allowance of use of lower density plaster than hitherto known. This faced liner is known by the name VICTORBOARD.

Notwithstanding these improvements in plaster, such still exhibits a fairly high thermal conductivity as well as low impact strength. The high thermal conductivity characteristic of the plaster permits heat dissipation from rooms in the cold winter months and allows during summer a heat flow into the room. It will be obvious that such an energy transfer is unwanted, wasteful and costly to counteract. In climates such as in Australia which typically span a temperature range between OOC to 400C, a trend has been emerging toward installing insulation in buildings.

At present there are two generally known methods of insulation. In the already constructed house the easiest way of introducing insulation is to blow in or place the insulation material in the ceiling. The second method of installation of the insulation is by inserting such between the walls and lining during construction. This incurs the proprietor in considerable expense additional to normal building costs.

As for the low strength of normal plaster or plasterboard, whilst this material is sufficiently tough to withstand fairly low impacts, it is suspect to cracking upon high or even medium localized impact. Therefore it does occasionally prove necessary to repair the liner which of course adds to the general costs of maintenance.

Plaster is further characterized by a high weight per unit area and this characteristic causes further expense due to the additional time necessary for installation of the lining and consequent labour costs. Nothwithstanding these disadvantages inherent in the composition of plaster, to date, there has been no economically viable substitute developed and as a result of this the use of such type of lining predominates in the building industry.

In addition to the above if an alternative light but high strength material can be found it would be possible to construct whole walls with this material and merely provide a facia even on the external face. Of course the normal framework in such walls may also need to be present. In this way a home could be easily constructed with regard to both walls and ceilings. Further with such material it would be possible to easily incorporate suspended ceilings into a building design.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a material which does not suffer from some or all of the above disadvantages of conventional plaster whilst simultaneously achieving the aforementioned constructional improvements.

Accordingly there is provided a material prepared from a composition which comprises a major amount of phenol or phenol-like resin, minor amounts of foaming agents, and a foam stabilizer.

The phenol or phenol-like resin normally used is phenol formaldhyde, however, it is thought other resins are still suitable, e.g. phenol melamine resin. Similarly there is a range of foaming agents available, however, inert fluorocarbon, inert fluoro-carbon hydrocarbon and phenol sulphonic acid are preferred, e.g. FREON 113. One typical foam stabilizer is a silicon surfactant of the type 1 93 manufactured by DOW CORNING.

Where appropriate it is advantageous to also incorporate a filler, e.g. silicon dioxide in a fused or unfused form, possibly wood flour and fly ash.

As the amount of filler can be very large the aforementioned reference to major and minor amounts of essential elements is with respect to total weight excluding the weight to filler. One characteristic of the incorporation of filler to ensure the achievement of the object of the invention is the necessity for simultaneous increment of the amount of foam stabilizer.

The material in accordance with the invention can broadly be termed a modified foam. It has been found that this material especially in sheet or block form has a strength many times the strength of plaster. In addition to this it exhibits extremely low weight per unit area and high impact resistance. These properties alone deem the material useful in a host of situations and particularly as a liner or constructional element for buildings. Notwithstanding this the material also has insulation properties and thus it is possible to dispense with the necessity of incorporating conventional insulation behind a liner. The benefits from this should be readily apparent in that not only is such a material easier to incorporate into a building but also saves on insulation costs.

As is the case with conventional plaster it is also possible to provide the surface of a sheet made in accordance with the present invention, with a paper or like coating. Such is purely optional.

By way of illustrative quantification of the constituents which may be used, the following ranges are particularly preferred.

Phenol or phenoi-like resin 5085% by weight Foaming agents e.g. lnertfluoro- carbon 312% by weight e.g. Phenol sulphonic acid 1-1 5% by weight Filler 0-60% by weight Foam stabilizer up to 8.0% by weight The phenol-like resin may be phenol formaldehyde as mentioned above or other alternate resins which will be readily known to those skilled in the art. It is to be noted however that when utilizing phenol formaldehyde such may be typically in solid form or have up to 8590% solid content. A further example of foaming agent is an inert fluoro-carbon is tri-chloro fluoromethane.

As regards filler, it has been found in experiments that such imparted considerable strength to ti e material however such addition is not essential as similar strengths can be attained by varying the other constituents. The basic need for filler is generated by the desire of keeping costs to a minimum. Finally as also mentioned previously the foam stabilizer may be silicon based surfactant such as a silicon glycol copolymer.

The following are examples of a compositions within the ambit of the present invention.

Example 1 The following composition was prepared and solidified in sheet form.

Phenol formaldehyde resin W 75.3% by weight Inert fluoro-carbon (manufactured by Hoechst under the name FRIGEN II) 8.4% by weight Phenol sulphonic acid (80% conc.) 2.8% by weight Wood flour 10% by weight Silicon surfactant (manufactured by Dow Corning No. 193) 3.5% by weight The sheet was then subjected to rigidity tests, crush tests and a cell size analysis and was found suitable for building liner purposes.

Example 2 The following composition was prepared and solidified in sheet form.

Phenol formaldelhyde resin 77.80% by weight Phenol sulphonic acid (80% conc.) 11.67% by weight FREON 113 9.37% by weight Silicon Surfactant No.

1 93 manufactured by Dow Corning 0.80% by weight The sheet was then subjected to rigidity tests, crush tests and a cell size analysis and was found suitable for building liner purposes.

Example 3 The following composition was prepared and solidified in sheet form.

Phenol formaldehyde resin 32% by weight Phenol sulphonic acid (80% conc.) 4.8% by weight FREON 113 4% by weight Silicon Surfactant No.

193 manufactured by Dow Corning 53% by weight Silicon Dioxide 58.6% by weight The sheet was then subjected to rigidity tests, crush tests and a cell size analysis and was found suitable for building liner purposes.

Claims

1. A preparatory composition for a building material comprising a major amount of phenol or phenol-like resin, minor amounts of one or more foaming agents and a foam stabilizer.

2. The composition of Claim 1 wherein the amount of said resin is from 50 to 85% by weight.

3. The composition of either Claims 1 or 2 wherein the amount of said foaming agent(s) is from 1 to 27% by weight.

4. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the amount of said foam stabilizer is up to 8.0% by weight.

5. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein said resin is phenol formaldehyde.

6. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein said foaming agent(s) is selected from an inert fluoro-carbon, an inert fluoro-carbon hydrocarbon and phenol sulphonic acid.

7. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein said inert fluoro-carbon is tri-chloro fluoromethane.

8. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein said foaming stabilizer is a silicon surfactant.

9. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 8 wherein said silicon surfactant is a silicon glycol copolymer.

10. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 9 which additionally comprises one or more fillers.

11. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 10 wherein the amount of said filler is up to 200% by weight.

12. The composition of any one of Claims 1 to 11 wherein said filler is selected from silicon dioxide in a fused or unfused form, wood flour and fly ash.

13. A building element formed from a composition according to any one of Claims 1 to 12.

14. The building element of Claim 13 further characterized by a coating of paper on one or both sides thereof.

1 5. A building element made in accordance with any one of the Examples.