Application of Foamed Polystyrene as a Surrogate Building Material in Modern Building Construction.

Abstract

Installing foamed polystyrene as a thermal insulation on building is to provide comfort, to protect man from too much or too less heat, to provide saving of heating energy, and to protect building from damage due to insufficient or incorrectly installed insulation that causes thermal flow and water vapor condensation. In order to consider insulation materials for the construction of buildings, materials should satisfy a number of precisely defined requirements such as: low volume mass, frost resistance, good mechanical properties, good conductivity of stream and gases, low water absorption, resistance to the effect of fire, good thermal insulation properties, low price and ability to recycling. The paper discussed the application of foamed polystyrene as a surrogate building material in modern building construction. Serious problems such as; moisture, rotting of materials, mildew, blooming, flaking and frosting damaged occur with most familiar building materials. The following properties of foamed polystyrene were focused on: mechanical, chemical, biological and its thermal insulation materials used in building constructions. The advantages of foamed polystyrene stretched beyond common building materials with less disadvantages. Hence, the optimization of foamed polystyrene as man- made materials for building construction should be focused and improved on its future uses among others building materials.