Study of the Use of Vacuum Insulation as Integrated Thermal Insulation in Ceramic Masonry Blocks

Vacuum insulation panels (VIP) are thermal insulation materials with very low thermal conductivity. VIPs are commonly used in a broad spectrum of technical fields; however, they only see a small-scale application in civil engineering. The reason is mainly their high price and difficulty of installation. VIPs are very vulnerable to mechanical damage, which typically causes the loss of their thermal insulation properties. This paper deals with the possibility of effective incorporation of these insulation materials into masonry blocks designed for exterior walls, where VIPs become integrated insulation. This application minimises the hazard of mechanical damage provided the insulation is placed in the block correctly. In this paper, four kinds of materials, applicable as the core of VIPs, are compared. This is a standard mineral wool, commercial VIP based on pyrogenic silica and two experimental types of VIPs based on cotton. Four application possibilities were proposed and thermal properties of individual variants were compared.