Mineral wool properties

Mineral wool is manufactured from volcanic rock, typically basalt or dolomite with an increasing proportion of recycled material in the form of briquettes. The molten material is spun into wool and small quantities of resin binder and mineral oil are added to lock the strands together and make them water repellent. The wool is formed into a mat, which is then carried through ovens where it is cured and compressed giving it good structural strength. This mat is used as the core for the FireWall panel.

Mineral wool has properties and performance that makes it especially suitable for the FireWall panel:


  • Fire – Superb fire properties and rated A1, the safest under the new Euroclass Reaction to Fire. Mineral wool does not constitute a toxic hazard in fire conditions. This is in contrast to petro-chemical based insulation materials, such as polyurethane polyisocyanurate and phenolic foam, which are inherently combustible and release toxic combustion products and smoke in a fire.

  • Insulation – The thermal conductivity of mineral wool does not deteriorate over time, unlike foamed plastic insulation that is produced using blowing agents.

  • Biological – Mineral wool is rot-proof, odourless, non-hygroscopic, does not sustain vermin and will not encourage the growth of fungi, mould or bacteria.
  • Environment – Mineral wool has lower embodied energy than foamed plastics, contains no CFCs, HCFCs or other material with ozone depletion potential and is therefore ODP Zero. Mineral wool used in the core material by Performance Panel Solutions uses abundantly available materials in its manufacture.
  • Water Resistance – Tests carried out by the BBA show that mineral wool insulation will not transmit water nor will it transmit moisture by capillary action.These tests have been confirmed by independent research conducted for the Government’s Energy Efficiency Office. The vapour resistance is negligible and usually considered to be the same as that of air.

Health issues

Mineral wool had a bad press in the sixties after the asbestos scare. Some experts linked all mineral products and warned of carcinogenic risks, which subsequent research has shown not to be the case. Performance Panel Solutions knows of no scientific research which links mineral wool to health risks.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — part of the World Health Organisation — in October 2001 carried out a review of man-made vitreous fibres and concluded that mineral wool insulation was "… unclassifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans". The safety of mineral wool insulation fibres is beyond doubt and the IARC has removed it from their list of suspected carcinogenic agents.

The most comprehensive research was a vast study undertaken by the World Health authority which concluded that mineral wool is perfectly safe. Over many years human epidemiological studies have show no link between exposure to mineral wool fibres and lung disease or any other chronic effects.

Owing to their high bio-solubility, the fibre types of mineral wool insulation materials are assessed as free from suspicion of possible carcinogenic effects in accordance with EU Directive 97/69/EC [Note Q]. This Directive is incorporated into UK Health and Safety Legislation through The Chemicals [Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply] [Amendment] Regulations — known as CHIP.

In addition the EU Technical Committee on Classification and Labelling of Dangerous Substances at its meeting 22nd of March 2006, with a clear majority, decided to delete the R38 irritant classification for mineral wool and refractory ceramic fibres.

 

Carcinogenic classification of mineral wool

UK manufacturers of glass wool and rock wool insulation have welcomed the recent reclassification of mineral wool fibres by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Following a review meeting held in Lyons, France, on 9-16 October, a panel of international IARC scientists decided that a ‘Group 3’ classification was appropriate for mineral wool insulation, establishing it as; “... unclassifiable as to its carcinogenicity in humans.”

October 17th 2001