Abbreviations

CSH calcium silicate hydrate

EPS expanded polystyrene

EXP extruded polystyrene

PUR polyurethane

PIR polyisocyanurate

Description

The present invention relates to a wall element for new buildings and extensions, methods for preparation of the wall element, and a use of said wall element.

More specifically it relates to a wall element comprising an insulation material and a calcium silicate hydrate (CSH)-component material on both sides of the insulation material, and methods for preparation of the wall element.

The governments around the civilized world face the consumers of energy for heating both in private housings and in industrial buildings with still higher requirements to lower heat loss to the environment in order to save energy and thus decrease C0 ₂ emission. The purpose is to mitigate the increasing average temperatures and consequences of the climate change caused by e.g. increased concentration of CO ₂ in the air.

New buildings and extensions have today and for many years been built the same way. First the foundation is made, then the walls are set up. Subsequently, the walls are insulated in order to avoid loss of heat through the walls.

One traditional construction method for external walls comprises the following steps each m ² : Firstly, the inner wall of e.g. either 63 clay bricks and 40-50 kg masonry mortar or light weight concrete blocks laid in masonry mortar, layer by layer, is built.

Secondly, mineral insulation is mounted on the outside on the inner wall.

Thirdly, the wall ties are mounted evenly distributed into the inner wall, through the insulation layer.

Fourthly, the outer wall is built of 63 clay bricks and 40-50 kg masonry mortar, layer by layer.

All external joints are manually scratched clean on the face side for preparing final filling,

Thereafter the surface is brushed clean manually with a stiff brush for cleaning off loose mortar remains.

Then all joints in the brickwork are manual sealed with compacted weather resistant mortar.

Finally, all surfaces are cleaned in a 1 ,5 % solution of HCI.

The disadvantages of the method of prior art are that the total building process requires several steps and the insulation of the walls are not very effective, and because it is a construction with so many parts and processes, there always is many risks of failures e.g. air tightness, waterproofness, frost damages and failures in mortar cohesion in between the bricks/blocks and the mortar, which can result in failure.

Thus, it is highly desirable to provide a wall material for new buildings and extensions whereby the heat loss and construction costs are lowered by significant less parts lowering the risks for failure e.g. airtightness,

waterproofness, frost damages and failures in mortar cohesion, while the fabrication process of the wall materials is not more expensive than the total costs of the wall and insulation materials of prior art.

Prior art describes in EP2395171A1 a board of a composite material with a sandwiched structure, an insulation material of porous concrete in the middle and two outer layers, one on each side of the insulation material. The outer layers and the insolation layer are made from porous concrete i.e. calcium silicate hydrate, and, the middle layer has pores of a smaller diameter. It is a monolithic structure.

However, the composite is suited as a building material only for a minor block wall. If it is a large element it would break during transport and handling to the building site. It is not strong enough against mechanical load from e.g. wind load, roof load and transport impacts, because the CSH-layers are not strong enough. Summary of the invention.

The present invention solves the problem above by providing according to claim 1 a wall material for construction and insulation of new buildings and extensions wherein said wall material is a composite comprising an insulating layer and two diffusion open calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) layers, e.g. hydrothermal hardened, on each side of the insulating layer, wherein at least one of the calcium silicate hydrate layers are reinforced with rods or fibres, and wherein the layers are by the adhesive character of the insulating layer or, optionally, by an adhesive diffusion open third layer, attached to each other.

An anticipated embodiment is where the insulation layer and the CSH- component layers are further specified as in claim 2 and 3.

Yet other anticipated embodiments are wherein the regid phenol foam is further specified as in claim 4 or 5.

Claims 6 to 8 claim embodiments wherein the glue for adhesion is further specified.

Claim 9 claims an embodiment wherein the rigid phenol foam is specified by its preparation from its starting materials.

Anticipated embodiments wherein the diffusion open rigid insulation material is further specified, are claimed in claim 10, anticipated embodiments wherein the rods or fibres are further specified, are claimed in claim 11 , or wherein the wall element has a hole for lifting the wall element is specified, is claimed in claim 12. A method for preparation of the composite thermal wall element is claimed in claim 13 and further methods in claims 14 to 22. Claim 13 to 16 claims horizontal preparation methods and claim 17 a vertical preparation method.

In order that the invention may be well understood, some non-limiting examples will now be described in which:

Fig.1 shows a cross-section of a building and where a composite wall element of the invention is intended for use. The reinforcement is not shown.

Fig. 2 shows a composite wall element of the invention comprising three layers.

Fig. 3 shows a composite wall element of the invention comprising five layers.

Fig. 4 shows a composite wall element of the invention comprising seven layers.

Fig. 5 shows a cross-section of a composite wall of the invention intended for plastering.

Fig. 6 shows a cross-section of a composite wall of the invention intended for a raw appearance or for paint.

Fig. 7 shows an example of wall made from composite thermal wall elements of the invention. The reinforcement is not shown.

Fig. 8 shows an example of a wall made from composite thermal wall elements of the invention for a window opening. The reinforcement is not shown.

The advantages of the present invention are now described and where possible by referring to the figures above.

Fig. 1 shows a cross-section of a building. The arrows point to where the composite thermal wall element of the invention may be applied, i.e. for the external structural walls, in the basement, at first or higher floors, or in the middle of the house in-between rooms that needs thermal or acoustic insulation. The wall has a low thermal conductivity and is noise reducing as well. It is very effective for thermal insulation. The reinforcement is not shown.

Referring to Fig. 2 the composite thermal wall element according to the invention comprises at least three layers. The foam layer, 1 , is attached on each face side, 11 , visible on the figure and 12, not visible, to a CSH-component layer, 2. Either, the foam layer is sticking to the CSH-component layer, 2, or an adhesive layer (not shown) joins the foam, 1 , and CSH-component layer, 2, see Fig. 3.

An advantage of the composite wall element of the invention is improved construction speed, fire protection and thermal insulation. The thermal insulation properties are improved by lowering the thermal conductivity while maintaining good fire resistance properties. Both the insulation material and the mineral CSH-component have high resistance to fire, and improvement of the

reinforcement can raise the low bearing capacity even further.

The construction speed and the working environment regarding healthy and safety is improved, because the walls are installed by using special lifting tools and less manual handling. A special lift or crane can handle a wall element.

Fig. 3 shows another composite thermal wall element according to the invention. It has five layers. The foam layer, 1 , is attached to an adhesive layer, 3, on both face sides, 11 and 12, and the adhesive layers, 3, are each attached to a CSH- component layer, 2. One CSH-layer, 2, is reinforced with rods as illustrated in the drawing.

Fig. 4 shows a composite thermal wall element according to the invention. It has seven layers. The foam layer, 1 , is in the middle and by the adhesive

characteristic of the foam layer, 1 , attached on each face side to a protective glass-fibre fabric layer, 4. The protective layers, 4, are each on their other face sides, one is not visible, attached to an adhesive layer, 3, and the adhesive layers, 3, are each attached to a CSH-component layer, 2. One CSH-layer, 2, is reinforced with rods as illustrated.

The above composite is prepared directly from products available on the market. Fig. 5 shows a reinforced cross section of joined composite thermal wall elements as in Fig. 2. The wall elements are covered with a layer of plaster that can be reinforced by a mesh of glass fibre fabric on the whole surface. 5. The outmost layer is typically a voluntary optical layer of paint, 6. The ends of the rods, 10, of the reinforcement are shown.

Fig. 6 shows a reinforced cross section of a joined composite thermal wall elements as in Fig. 2. The edges are chamfered. The outmost layer is a layer of paint, 6. As seen, the edges are chamfered, 7, and the joint sealed, 8. The paint covers both the CSFI-component and the joint. The ends of the rods, 10, of the reinforcement are shown.

Fig. 7 shows an example of how composite thermal wall elements are installed.

In between the complete thermal wall elements in the vertical joints, there is used an adhesive layer of thin layer mortar, synthetic glue or other practical functioning adhesive. The rods of the reinforcement are not shown.

Fig. 8 shows an example of how composite thermal wall elements can be installed around windows. In between the complete thermal wall elements in the vertical joints, there is an adhesive layer of thin layer mortar, synthetic glue or other practical functioning adhesive. The rods of the reinforcement are not shown.

Fig. 2 to 7 show all an embodiment of a thermal wall element according to the invention. The insulating phenolic foam is commercially available. It is anticipated that the foam layer may be made from a resole. This has a composition, if it includes a facing material, of:

About 70% resole resin, about 15% additives, 9% facing material and a propellant with no depletion potential 5%.

It is made from a liquid resole resin, calcium carbonate as filler, additives and a blowing agent. The foam is rigid and has 90% or more closed cells. Examples are published in EP1922356 B1 and EP1922357 B1.

The CSH-component of the claimed embodiments of the composite thermal wall element may deviate in its composition as follows:

It is anticipated that e.g. a light weight aircrete for the CSH-component may have the following composition:

The traditional manufacturing of the phenolic foam needs a surface covering to prevent the foam from sticking to the production equipment but also a firm support layer or surface to form the foam. So, on the market the foam layer is sold sticking on both sides to a glass fibre fabric. A thermal wall element of the invention may or may not comprise the support layer.

Examplel . Preliminary experiment for filling.

Two CSH-component boards are provided from H+H Deutschland GmbH. They have been prepared according to a well-known method, see Environmental Product Declaration of Non-reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, 2014. A similar adhesive foam, which has the adhesive property of phenol foam, polyurethane foam, is used in investigating tests to confirm that a proper adhesion of the formed foam to the CSH-components can be achieved.

The CSH-components are placed aligned and plan parallelly, vertically, at a distance of 10 cm and the polyurethane foam is raised and filled up the cavity. No glue layer is used as the freshly formed foam itself between the CSH- components established the necessary cohesion to the CSH-components. A composite with good insulation properties was obtained.

Example 2. Vertical preparation for filling.

Two autoclaved aerated concrete CSH-component boards are provided from H+H Deutschland GmbH. They have been prepared according to a well-known method published in Environmental Product Declaration of Non-reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, 2014.

The following test is performed with not reinforced boards as these were available, and the test should show whether a composite could be prepared applying the adhesive character of a foam prepared from a liquid resole resin.

Two concrete CSH-component boards are aligned plan parallelly, vertically, at a distance of 5 to 20 cm, tempering the CSH-component layers to 50°C to 80°C, and filling in between a liquid phenol resin with calcium carbonate as filler, an acid catalyst and a blowing agent, forming an insulation material layer, 1 , in between the preheated CSH- component layers, by applying the liquid phenol resin with calcium carbonate as filler, an acid catalyst and a blowing agent and wait until the curing step has finished.

As a preferred example the tempering step is performed to 60°C to 70°C. As a preferred example the liquid phenol resin may be the phenol resole resin composition comprising in the following ratios: 240 g of the commercially available liquid phenol formaldehyde resin supplied by Sumikomo Bakelite, R330, having a viscosity of 8000-10000 cP at 25°C, weight average molecular weight 600-1200 and pH 5,3 to 6,3, containing from 2 to 4% free phenol and 3 to 4% free formaldehyde, with a phenol/formaldehyde molar ratio of 1 :2 and a water content of 11 to 13%, is mixed at 15°C with 12,0 g powdered urea and 6,0 g of a castor oil-ethylene oxide adduct as plasticiser and allowed to stand 14 hours. Then 12 g calcium carbonate is added and mixed into the resin until uniformly dispersed. Finally, 20 g of blended isopropyl chloride/isopentane 85/15 parts by weight as blowing agent is mixed at 1 °C into the resin. Once a uniform

suspension is formed the resin mixture is cooled to 8°C. Then 40,0 g liquid para- toluene sulfonic acid/xylene sulfonic acid blend 65/35 parts by weight at 92% concentration at 8°C is quickly mixed in.

200 g of the resin mix is quickly poured in between the boards, and then cured at elevated temperature 70°C. The foam is cured for 10 minutes and cured in an oven afterwards for another 2 hours.

A composite having very good thermal insulation properties and good fire resistance is obtained.

Example 3. Horizontal preparation for gluing.

An anticipated method of preparing the composite wall element of the invention comprises, to prepare the composite wall element by

providing two autoclaved aerated concrete CSH-component boards are provided from H+H Deutschland GmbH. They have been prepared according to a well- known method published in Environmental Product Declaration of Non-reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, 2014, preparing a foam layer board according to standard method EN 13166:2012 + A2:2016 (E) on a support layer which also serves as a first protective layer, placing a second protective layer on the other side of the foam layer,

provide one CSH-component layers pre-prepared using standard methods, and at least one CSH-component layer reinforced with rods or fibres, applying a suitable adhesive layer to each protective layer’s face side or to one side of each CSH-component layer, and combining the layers, thereby attaching the protective layers to the CSH- component layers and allowing the resulting composite to be diffusion open.

A suitable adhesive is an air-hardening moistens fast synthetic aqueous copolymer dispersion, in German called a“Kunststofharzdispersion”, based on styrene and an acrylic acid ester with a solid content of 20-80%, preferably 50% +/- 1 %.

Example 4. Horizontal preparation for filling.

Yet another anticipated method comprises,

providing two CSH-component layers, one layer may be prepared by using standard methods as e.g. published in Environmental Product Declaration of Non-reinforced CSH-component, and at least one other CSH-component layer is prepared with rods or fibres for reinforcement,

and wait until the CSH-component layers have reached 50 to 80°C, fill onto one of the horizontal laying CSH-component layers a composition comprising a phenol resin, using a standard method for preparing foam boards, e.g. as published in Environmental Product Declaration Kingspan Kooltherm K5, EP1922356B1 EP1922357B1 or as described in Example 2 except for that the curing process is postponed, as the next step is placing on the other side said other CSH-component layer as a second foam support layer or carrier and then performing a curing step for the foam forming process above, applying the adhesive property of the formed foam for attaching the layers of CSH- component, one on each side of the foam layer.

The phenolic foam may, preferably, be formed from a liquid resole resin comprising calcium carbonate as filler, an acid catalyst and a blowing agent. An additive may also be present.