No insulation board is immune to facer delamination or severe compression when traffic is high enough or its load is heavy enough to crush the foam cell structure below the facer. However, the rolling load emulator can be used effectively as a quality control tool to predict insulation board resistance to facer delamination.

At the request of the roofing industry, ASTM has begun development of a standard test method for this device, “Standard Test Method for Faced Rigid Cellular Thermal Insulation Board Resistance to Delamination by Use of the Rolling Load Emulator,” being drafted by a task group of ASTM Subcommittee C16.32 on Mechanical Properties in Committee C16 on Thermal Insulation.

It will describe “a procedure for testing rigid-faced thermal insulation boards surfaced with other materials for determining the resistance to delamination by use of the Rolling Load Emulator apparatus,” said Tim Tackett, laboratory manager and foam specialist, Firestone Building Products, Ind., and chairman of the ASTM task group. The apparatus can be utilized in the manufacturing of foam for insulation board.

“This standard would be used to predict the performance of faced insulation boards for resistance to delamination,” Tackett said. “The National Roofing Contractors Association, Single Ply Roofing Institute, and Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association are interested in this test to minimize the amount of facer delamination in the industry.”

To participate in this activity, or for further technical information, contact Tim Tackett, Firestone Building Products, Technology Center, Carmel, Ind. (phone: 317/575-7109). ASTM Committee C16 on Thermal Insulation meets Oct. 14-17 in Deerfield Beach, Fla. For meeting or membership details, contact Staff Manager Tim Brooke, ASTM (phone: 610/832-9729). //

Copyright 2001, ASTM