Comparison of Thermal Insulation Performance of Foam Extruded Black EPS

Abstract The foam extrusion process to obtain lower thermal valued expanded polystyrene insulation board materials was investigated. Samples with either carbon black or graphite powder were prepared with different starting polystyrene raw materials. The raw materials were selected as commercial general purposed polystyrene and commercial expandable polystyrene, respectively. The density of the prepared materials increased with the addition of carbon black to all samples. The compatibility of graphite powder with general purpose polystyrene during foam extrusion process was observed to be better than expandable polystyrene in terms of glass transition temperatures and thermal insulation values. The best glass transition temperature was measured as 107.5 ºC while the best thermal conductivity value was recorded as 0.2997 W/m.K.