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Sandwich panels: supporting growth with and established technology.

Article Excerpt
Sandwich panels in India have been showing strong growth, mainly in telecom shelters, cold chain and industrial buildings. Huntsman is a leading supplier of polyurethane chemicals to sandwich-panel manufacturers across the world. In this paper, we would like to share our experience gained in Europe for sandwich-panel applications.

In Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME), the market for polyurethane-cored sandwich panels has been growing rapidly over recent years and is currently estimated to be 130 million [m.sup.2] a year. The majority of these panels are produced on laminators, while the discontinuous press technique is mainly used for more specialised panel designs.

The emerging economies in Europe (Russia, eastern Europe and the Balkans) are currently facing huge growth in sandwich panel production, with many new laminators being put in place, as indicated by the growth figures shown for various regions in Europe.

The main advantages of PU-cored sandwich panels, such as lightweight construction, superb thermal insulation and a rapid and economic construction technique, are definitely appealing for an emerging economy such as India. Here, Huntsman compares use of PU-cored sandwich panels with that of other construction techniques, listing advantages of PU versus other insulating materials.

This paper further describes the various foaming technologies currently practiced in Europe, and their relevance for the Indian market. An important distinguishing element is of course the foam blowing agent. While Europe mainly uses pentane, India still has the option to use HCFC-141 b. The two blowing agents are compared technically in terms of foam processing as well as in terms of the properties of the resulting panel.

Another important choice is between polyisocyanurate (PIR) and the more classical polyurethane technology. This choice is mainly determined by local fire codes and the availability of laminators able to process PIR. Again, the situation in Europe regarding PIR/PU preference is discussed, together with the main drivers and future outlook.

The EAME market for sandwich panels

The market of PU-cored sandwich panels has been showing a steady growth over the last decade. In the EAME region it was estimated to be 405 kilotonnes (kt) of PU in 2006, equivalent to [+ or -] 130 million [m.sup.2] of panels. The majority of these panels are produced via continuous lamination (320 kt PU in 2006) while the discontinuous press technique used an estimated 85 kt PU that...

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