What is SIP?
Material characteristics
Structurally insulated panels (SIP) are a modern wall construction material used for fast construction of comfortable frame-panel buildings that meet all safety and thermal protection standards.
SIP is a durable, environmentally friendly 3-layer construction with excellent insulating properties. It consists of two moisture-resistant boards (OSB), which are connected by a layer of rigid expanded polystyrene foam that meets all the qualitative characteristics of thermal protection, resistance to environmental influences and eco-friendliness of materials. Contrary to the fears, this material is safe in case of fire, due to self-extinguishing components.
SIP components
Let’s look at each layer of a SIP panel
OSB plate
Oriented Strand Board (OSB) is a wood-based board (usually softwood). OSB is 95-97% composed of environmentally friendly wood and 3-5% - of adhesives. The name "oriented strand" means that the main raw material for production is wood strands (flat wooden strips 140 mm long and 0.5-0.7 mm thick), that are aligned (external layers) and perpendicular to the panel's strength axis (internal layers). This orientation provides high strength of the finished panel, and significantly distinguishes it from other panels.
Insulation
Polystyrene foam PSB-S-25 (self-extinguishing suspension polystyrene foam) is usually used in SIP-panels as insulation material. It is derived from polystyrene by foaming and stringing the beads together.
This material is characterized by self-extinguishing properties, and complete with flame retardants (components that prevent ignition) OSB plates, able to provide SIP-panels with the necessary fire-prevention properties.
Polystyrene foam today is one of the best materials for thermal insulation of buildings.
Binding material (Adhesive)
Sandwich panel layers are bonded together with high-quality one-component polyurethane glue. This binder has high elasticity, excellent moisture resistance, resistance to influences (of both temperature and solvent chemicals). Bonding (or rather pressing) is carried out under high pressure using an industrial pneumatic press, what makes SIP panels a truly durable and reliable building material.
Production of SIP panels
Check out a video demonstration of our factory’s work
Production of SIP panels
Production line
Moisture resistance of SIPPU sandwich panels depends on an OSB board brand and of course on the conscientiousness of the manufacturer of these boards. For sandwich panels production, we use OSB plates by EGGER with type 3 (moisture resistant). The manufacturer of plates EGGER is certified in Ukraine and carefully monitors quality of their production. Our company also controls the quality of materials, that allows us to offer ultimate confidence guarantee on our products for developers.
OSB-3 boards have flame retardant impurities, which significantly prevent ignition, together with drywall (thickness > 9 mm) it provides reliable protection of intrapanel polystyrene foam for 45 minutes of continuous contact with an open flame. We produce sandwich panels with the increased fire resistance (class SE according to the international classification). To do this, we use expanded polystyrene with the addition of flame retardants of higher degrees, which significantly slows down ignition and burning.
Practice has shown that houses with sandwich panels do not get mice for several reasons: the materials of sandwich panels, namely the OSB plate and foam, are not food for rodents and are not used by them to create nests. External rigid OSB plates protect polyfoam from open contact with rodents, and high degree of thermal insulation of sandwich panels does not attract attention of rodents with heat. High-quality installation of SIP-panels provides complete insulation and the absence of cracks in a house, which creates excellent protection against rodents and does not attract them with heat or odor.
The high strength of SIPPU sandwich panels is the ability to withstand weight and seismic loads. The use of denser polystyrene foam (polyfoam) and adhesive with high adhesion gave an even greater increase in the SIPPU SIP-panels strength. The use only certified materials that has allowed our company to significantly stabilize and improve the performance of SIPPU sandwich panels. The SIPPU sandwich panel does not lost its endurance ability for 80 years and more, provided that you comply with operating conditions. Adherence to technology and multilevel quality control at all production stages have allowed us to guarantee the high level of product quality produced by SIPPU.
The durability of SIPPU sandwich panels largely depends on the quality of the insulation layer (expanded polystyrene), OSB, assembling on Canadian technology. Expanded polystyrene is a reliable and time-tested material. Unlike polyurethane foam or mineral wool, polystyrene foam does not sag over time and retains its shape for decades, and provided that the integrity of the protective plates of the OSP is saved – more than 100 years. The durability of sandwich panels significantly depends on the density of the foam. Sandwich panels with low density of expanded polystyrene are often used for household and temporary constructions. At low density, the grain of expanded polystyrene can be significantly reduced after 20 years, which will lead to the formation of cavities and a gradual decrease in the thermal insulation properties of sandwich panels.