Insulation Vocab Flashcards
The ability of a material to withstand abrasion without appreciative erosion.
Abrasion Resistance:
The process of drawing fluid or gas into a porous material, such as a sponge soaking up water.
Absorption:
Jackets, mastics, or films used to protect insulation from mechanical and personnel abuse.
Abuse Coverings and Finishes:
Thermal resistance added to a construction element by insulation.
A substance used to bond materials by surface attachment.
Added R-value:
Adhesive:
A homogeneous, low-density solid-state material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas.
Aerogel:
The area between insulation facing and the interior of exterior wall coverings. Normally a 1-inch air gap.
Air Space:
Thin sheet of rolled aluminum (0.15 mm thick and under).
Cushioning material applied where insulation contacts pipe, duct, vessel, or adjacent insulation to prevent eroding of either or both.
Aluminum Foil:
Anti-Abrasive Coating:
The generic name for those silicate minerals that cleave naturally into fibers, the three important forms being chrysotile (white), crocidolite (blue), and amosite.
Asbestos:
Strapping used to fasten insulation and/or jacketing in place.
Bands:
Substance contained in insulation material that stabilizes the fibers (sometimes called a
thermal setting resin).
Binder:
Blanket insulation covered by flexible metal-mesh facings attached on one or both sides.
Blanket Insulation, Metal Mesh:
Insulation of flexible type, formed into sheets or rolls, usually with a vapor barrier on side and with or without a container sheet on the other side.
Blanket Insulation:
Semi-rigid insulation formed into sections, rectangular both in plan and cross section, usually 90-120 cm (3 – 4 ft) long, 15-60 cm wide (0.5 – 2 ft), and 2.5-15 cm (1-6 in) thick.
Block Insulation:
A material used to retain the insulation in place in open areas.
Blocking:
Semi-rigid insulation formed into sections, rectangular both in plan and cross section, usually more than 120 cm (4 ft) long, 60-75 cm (2 – 2.5 ft) wide, and up to 10 cm (4 in )thick.
Board Insulation:
A weather barrier coating designed to prevent water (rain, snow, sleet, spillage, wash water, etc.) from entering the insulation system, while still allowing the escape of small quantities of water vapor resulting from heat applied to the moisture entrapped in the insulation.
Breather Coating:
The end joints of pipe insulation.
Butt Joints (insulation):
Strips of similar jacket material applied around pipe insulation butt joints.
Butt Strip:
Insulation composed principally of hydrous calcium silicate, and which usually contains reinforcing fibers.
Calcium Silicate Insulation:
A closely woven fabric of cotton, flax, hemp, or jute characterized by strength and firmness.
Canvas:
Empty space between studs/joists in which insulation is placed.
Cavity:
Insulation composed principally of natural or synthetic elastomers, or both, processed to form a flexible, semi-rigid, or rigid foam that has a closed-cell structure.
Cellular Elastomeric Insulation:
A lightweight expanded glass with small cells, preferably nonintercommunicating (i.e., small, individual cells separated from each other), produced by a foaming process.
Cellular Glass (Foamed Glass):
Insulation composed of small, individual cells separated from each other. The material may be glass or plastic such as polystyrene, polyurethane, polyisocyanurate, or elastomeric.
Cellular Insulation:
Fibrous material, loose or fabricated into convenient forms, mainly intended for use at appropriate elevated temperatures. The fibers may consist of silica (SiO2) or of an appropriate metal silicate, e.g., aluminosilicate. Alternatively, they may be formed synthetically from appropriate refractory metal oxides, e.g., alumina, zirconia.
Ceramic Fiber:
A material comprised predominantly of individual noninterconnecting cellular voids.
Closed Cell Foam:
The property of an insulation material that resists any change in dimensions when acted upon by a compaction force.
Compressive Strength:
Changing a substance from a vapor to a liquid state by removing the heat. Shows up on surfaces as a film or drops of water.
Condensation:
Transmission of energy (heat/sound) through a material or from one material to another by direct contact. Materials with low rates make good insulation.
Conduction:
Transmission of energy (heat/sound) from one place to another by movement of a fluid such as air or water.
Convection:
The elastic, tough outer tissue that is used specially for stoppers and insulation.
The process of wearing away gradually, usually by chemical action.
Cork:
Corrosion:
To place insulation and/or finish materials on, over, or around a surface so as to insulate,
protect, or seal.
Cover:
Insulation for extremely low-temperature process surfaces from -100°F to -459°F (absolute zero).
Cryogenic Insulation:
The separation of the layers of material in a laminate.
Delamination:
The weight of a material expressed in kg of a cubic meter of a material (kg/m3).
Density:
The temperature at which a vapor begins to condense out of the air.
Dew Point:
A passageway made of sheet metal or other suitable material used for conveying air or other gas.
Duct:
A closed-cell foam insulation containing elastomers that provide the property of high elasticity.
Elastomeric:
The manner by which substances are discharged through the air.
Emission:
Metal network made by suitably stamping or cutting sheet metal and
stretching it to form open diamond-shaped meshes.
Expanded Metal:
An arrangement in an insulation system to minimize the risk of cracking due to thermal movement.
Expansion Joint (insulation):
A fibrous material made by spinning molten glass. Used as an insulator and heat loss retardant.
Fiberglass:
The insulation for a pipe flange composed of the specified thickness of insulation material, which may be preformed.
Flange Cover:
A projecting collar attached to a pipe for the purpose of connecting to another pipe, valve, or fitting.
Flange:
A material that tends to conform to the shape of the surface against which it is laid, or is so designed as to alter its manufactured shape to accommodate bends and angles.
Flexible Insulation:
An appliance for heating a medium to distribute heat throughout the dwelling unit.
Fabric woven from continuous filament or staple glass fiber.
Furnace:
Glass Cloth:
A material consisting of glass fibers used in making various products, including yams, fabrics, insulation, and structural objects or parts. Mineral fiber produced from molten glass, resistant to heat and fire.
Glass Fiber (Glass Wool):
Heat that is lost through air leakage, conduction, and radiation. To maintain a steady temperature, heat losses must be offset by a combination of heat gains and heat contributed by a heating system.
Heat Loss:
Heat flow from a hot to a cold body.
Heat Transfer:
The quantity of heat flowing through unit area due to all modes of heat
transfer induced by the prevailing conditions.
Heat Transmission:
Fiberglass insulation with densely packed fibers, resulting in higher R-values for a given thickness.
A measure of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.
High-Performance Insulation:
Humidity:
Capability of an insulation material and/ or finish to withstand mechanical or physical abuse.
Impact Resistance:
Uncontrolled leakage of air through cracks.
Infiltration:
To cover with a material of low conductivity in order to reduce the passage or leakage
of heat, reduce the surface temperature, or reduce the noise emanating from the object.
Insulate:
A mixture of various insulating fibers and binders with water to form a moldable paste insulation for application to fittings, irregular surfaces, or voids.
The process of removing installed insulation.
Insulating Cement:
Insulation Removal:
Materials with low thermal conductivity characteristics that are used to slow the
transfer of heat.
Insulation:
A form of facing applied over insulation. It may be integral with the insulation, or field applied using sheet materials. A covering placed over insulation for various functions.
Jacket:
Standard unit for measuring electrical energy consumption: kilowatts x hours.
Kilowatt-Hour (kWh):
The measure of heat in BTUs that pass through one square foot of a homogeneous substance, 1-inch thick, in an hour, for each degree F temperature difference. The lower the value, the higher the insulating value.
k-Value (Conductivity):
Insulation material (usually mineral wool, vermiculite, or cellulose) used for pouring or blowing into the space to be insulated.
Loosefill:
A relatively thick consistency protective finish capable of application to thermal insulation or other surfaces, usually by spray or trowel, in thick coats, greater than 0.75 mm.
Mastic:
Sheet metal fitted as a protective finish over insulation.
Metal Cladding/Jacketing:
Metal chamber through which hot air, gas, steam, or smoke may pass.
Metal Flue:
A generic term for all nonmetallic inorganic fibers.
Mineral Fiber:
A generic term for mineral fibers of a woolly consistency normally made from molten glass, rock, or slag. Insulation composed principally of fibers manufactured from rock, slag, or glass with or without binders.
Mineral Wool:
The property of a material that enables it to withstand high temperatures without ignition.
Noncombustibility:
Compounds containing carbon.
Organic:
Airborne spray loss of polyurethane foam that leads to undesirable
depositions of spray foam insulation on nearby surfaces.
Overspray (insulation):
A prefabricated unit of insulation and lagging.
Panel Insulation:
A glossy volcanic rock that expands when heated. After processing, used as loosefill insulation material or bound into slabs.
Perlite:
The state or quality of a material that causes it to allow liquids or gases to pass through it. The time rate of water vapor transmission through unit area of a material of unit thickness induced by unit vapor pressure difference between two specific surfaces, under specified temperature and humidity conditions.
Permeability:
A measure of the transmission of water vapor through a material or combination of materials, measured in perms.
A measure of acidityIalkalinity of aqueous mixtures.
Permeance:
pH:
A foamed insulation made from resins of phenols condensed with aldehydes.
Insulation in a form suitable for application to cylindrical surfaces.
Phenolic Foam:
Pipe Insulation:
Sections of insulating material in cylindrical form suitable for application to pipes.
Pipe Sections:
Insulating material in loose, dry form, prepared for application as a paste or dough by mixing with water, usually on site, and normally setting under the influence of heat applied to the internal surface.
Plastic Composition:
A closed-cell, thermoplastic material used for insulation.
Polyethylene:
Commonly abbreviated PU, any polymer consisting of a chain of organic units
joined by urethane links.
Polyurethane:
Thermal insulating material fabricated in such a manner that at least one surface conforms to the shape of the surface to be covered and which, when handled, will maintain its shape without cracking, breaking, crumbling, or permanent deformation.
Reflective barriers that inhibit heat transfer by thermal radiation.
Preformed Insulation:
Radiant Barrier:
Insulation that depends on reduction of radiant heat transfer across air spaces by use of one or more surfaces of high reflectance and low emittance.
Reflective Insulation:
Any polymer that is a basic material for plastics.
Resin:
The application of additional insulation over existing insulation, new insulation if old
insulation has been removed, or new insulation over existing, previously uninsulated surfaces.
Mineral wool produced from naturally occurring igneous rock.
Retrofit:
Rock Wool:
Finishing material, based on Portland cement, that is supplied as a dry powder and, when mixed with water in suitable proportions, will set without the application of heat.
Self-Setting Cement:
Mineral fiber made primarily from iron ore blast furnace slag that is spun into a fibrous form.
An adherent coating of insulating material.
Slag Wool Insulation:
Sprayed Insulation:
Insulation of the fibrous or foam type that is applied to a surface by
means of power spray devices.
Sprayed-On Insulation:
Laboratory test methodology for determining relative properties of materials at specific conditions.
Standard Testing:
A thermally conductive material that penetrates or bypasses an insulation system, such as a metal fastener or stud.
Thermal Bridge:
The rate at which heat is transmitted through a material, measured in watts per square meter of surface area for a temperature gradient of one Kelvin per meter thickness, simplified to W/mK.
Thermal Conductivity (Lambda Value):
Applied or installed thermal insulation including any accessories, vapor retarder, and facing required.
Thermal Insulation System:
A material or system that has the property of resisting the transfer of heat.
An index of a material’s resistance to heat flow.
Thermal Insulation:
Thermal Resistance (R-value):
Insulation applied on piping and equipment located below grade and usually in direct contact with the surrounding soil.
Underground or Buried Insulation:
Insulation with no attached vapor barrier.
Unfaced Insulation:
A vapor check with water vapor permeance not exceeding 1 perm, when tested
in accordance with BS 2972.
Vapor Barrier:
An expanded mineral insulation consisting of a mica-like substance that expands when heated. The resulting granules are generally used as loosefill insulation
Vermiculite:
A material or system that adequately impedes the transmission of water vapor under specified conditions.
Water Vapor Retarder (Barrier):
Impervious to prolonged exposure to water or water entry.
Waterproof:
A breather jacket or coating that allows passage of water
vapor and protects from atmospheric conditions.
Weather Barrier (Weather Coat):
Insulation composed of wood/cellulosic fibers, with or without binders.
Wood Fiber:
