Measurement and prediction of thermal conductivity of open cell rigid polyurethane foam

The objectives of this research are to develop, for water-blown open cell rigid polyurethane foam, a theoretical model based on Maxwell's equation (taking into account conduction in the solid and gas phases), and to establish Rosseland's diffusion equation (taking into account radiation across the cell-gas spaces, but excluding convection) to predict the thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foam. The physical properties performances of the open cell rigid PU foam were experimentally investigated. The mean deviations of thermal conductivities data between the theoretical calculations of this model, compared with experiment data obtained from the ASTM C518 method, are within 3% to 8% within the mean temperatures from 4 degreesC to 32 degreesC, respectively.