Armacell – Market Leader in Flexible
Technical Insulation
rmacell has been able to establish
itself as the market leader in the
area of flexible technical insulation since the development of
Armaflex in the early 1950s. This
category makes up around 25% of
the worldwide market for insulating materials, which is dominated
by products for structural insulation. Whereas technical insulat
i
o
n
designates the insulation of
pipelines, air ducts, containers
and fixtures of all types in the
area of sanitary facilities and
heating, of cooling and air-conditioning systems and of industrial
applications, the insulation of the
building frame (walls, ceilings
etc.) is defined as structural insulation.
The Worldwide Market for
Insulating Materials
The market for insulating materials is dominated by manufacturers from North America and
Western Europe and can be differ-
Armaflex Conquers the Market
for Flexible Technical Insulation
The development of Armaflex in
the 1950s revolutionized the market for technical insulation with
lasting effect: Our company
emerged at that time in the insulating materials market in the
unique position as the sole supplier
of this new material. Since then,
the flexible elastomeric product has
spawned many imitations. Armaflex has also become a generic
term like the brand names CocaCola or Aspirin. The name is a
synonym throughout the world
for all insulation tubes and sheets
made of flexible plastic foam.
We have been able to maintain
and strengthen our position as a
market leader, however, by continually developing and improving our products. In addition to
technical innovations and new or
modified performance requirements (e.g. because of legal regulations, DIN standards or other
laws), the needs of our business
Comparison of Insulating Materials
Insulating
Material
Mineral fiber
PUR/PIR
Polystyrene
Cellular Glass
Polyethylene
Elastomers
entiated into three main material
groups: Plastic foams (e.g. expandable polystyrene, polyurethanes,
polyethylenes, elastomers are
among these), cellular glass and
mineral wool. In particular the
demand for plastic foams - which
is already the product group with
the strongest current sales on a
worldwide basis - will increase in
the next few years according to a
forecast by the management consulting company Frost & Sullivan.
The industrial countries in North
America and Western Europe will
also represent the most important markets for insulating materials in the future. However, the
crucial factor for the positive
growth forecast is the rapid
increase in demand in the AsianPacific area, China, and Latin
America. After the USA, Germany
is the second largest market for
insulating materials in the world
and is far-and-away the largest
market in Europe ahead of
France, England (UK), Italy and
Spain.
partners are what, above all else,
drive these innovations. It is our
goal to always offer our customers
the best quality in products
designed to be as easy to use as
possible.
Armaflex - The Right Choice
Which are the decisive criteria in
the selection of suitable insulating material? Depending on the
area of use, an insulating material has to meet the following
requirements:
• Dependably prevent condensation water,
• Perform to the specified operating temperatures,
• Limit surface temperatures,
• Reduce energy loss, and
• Reduce structural noise transmission from mechanical system
parts.
In addition to these functionallyimportant characteristics, there
are safety-related criteria such as
fire performance, ecological compatibility and the health effects
of handling the materials. These
Winfried Eismann, Dr. Georg Stegemann, Jörg Hügemeier, Markus Bohnenkamp and Lothar Wösmann discuss the necessary steps for further developing
special tube production for new application areas.
requirements are expressed in the
following key evaluation criteria
for insulating materials:
• Low thermal conductivity [λ],
[k]
• High resistance to the
transmission of water vapor [µ],
[perm-in]
• Behavior in a fire that
conforms to the standards and
• Easy handling and installation.
There are "objective conflicts"
that exist between these qualitydefining characteristics: If the
thermal conductivity of an insulating material is improved, for
instance, this can interfere with the
resistance to water vapor diffusion.
A "sealing of the cells" to improve
the µ-factor can negatively impact
fire performance. If one attempts to
achieve maximum flexibility, this in
turn will have an influence on all
the other characteristics that have
been mentioned.
The essential goal in ongoing development of insulating materials
is therefore to balance these
Thomas Schmöller, checking the interior tube
diameter in the Armaflex production facility in
the Münster factory.
requirements, which to some
extent conflict with one another.
Armacell has the appropriate
expertise at its disposal and can
reference over 100 years of experience in the insulating-material
sector. We have succeeded in permanently improving the technical
material characteristics - the thermal conductivity [λ], the resistance to water vapor diffusion
processes [µ], and the practical
behavior in a fire - since the
development of Armaflex. We
monitor these central product
features in our technical departments, which are fully equipped
with the latest testing equipment.
Around 2,000 fire tests, 800 thermal conductivity tests, and over
1,000 water vapor permeability
tests are performed in the Münster
factory alone on an annual basis.
In addition, we have entered into
contracts with governmental (in
the case of testing the fire behavior) or recognized, independent
material testing institutes for
outside monitoring of these
values. This system monitoring
provides our customers with a
guarantee that the characteristics
of our products comply with our
published statements and that
the same material always meets
all the requirements.
Armacell – The Development
Goes On
We are continually improving our
production technology, making
use of new scientific findings.
We have developed our own
computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) program in close collaboration with software development
companies. The program helps us
simulate the production process of
plastic foams. This has led to major
time savings when manufacturing
new products and now enables us
to offer our customers prototypes a
few days after the receipt of the
order. (Please see p. 3, ArmaFoam
category, for related information).
For Armacell, technical market
Numerical Simulation of the
Manufacturing Process
Defined
Product Form
Predicted
Tooling
leadership is not limited to
offering the best products in the
market. Instead, we would like
to share our knowledge and our
experience with our business
partners. We make information
on all central topics of technical
insulation available to them, and
offer worldwide installation
trainings, application manuals,
digital calculation programs and
specifier information. Whether
through a visit to our web site
(www.armacell.com), an inquiry
by telephone to our technical
customer service, or through a
personal discussion with one of
our application technicians on
site – customers can profit from
our expertise.
Please see
North America Insert
for Update on U.S.
Technical Foams
Efforts.