What is used to thermally insulate a liquefied gas tank at -160 degrees C, an industrial driveable floor or a museum flat green roof? When polyurethane foam rots and rock wool becomes saturated, Cellular Glass enters the scene: a black, mineral, eternal block.
Glass waste is ground to a fine powder and mixed with a tiny percentage of carbon, then fired at about 850 degrees C. The heat melts the glass while the carbon oxidises, creating CO2 bubbles that leaven the liquid mass. The result is a rigid blackish block of millions of microscopic pure-glass cells, hermetically sealed and separated, with insulating power that never degrades.
Cellular glass is the only building insulator with zero viscous flow (Zero Creep). It withstands colossal static and dynamic loads (up to 160 t/m2) for centuries without deforming a single millimetre. It also blocks the molecular passage of water vapour completely (mu = infinite), acting simultaneously as insulator and absolute vapour barrier.
Standards
European and international references applicable.
Physical properties
Usage environment
HOT BITUMEN INSTALLATION: rigid blocks are laid by dipping faces in bitumen melted at 200 degrees C and rubbing them together. The bitumen welds the surface glass cells creating a monolithic watertight block with no escape paths for water. CUTTING: on site, cut by rubbing a simple hand wood saw; the thin cell walls crumble locally releasing a pungent but harmless H2S odour.