Materials

The client supplied EPS specimens as follows:
Nine specimens 50 x 50 x 50mm (nominal)
Six specimens 200 x 50 x 50mm (nominal)
Six specimens 100 x 100 x 25mm (nominal)
Ten specimens 25 x 67mm diameter (nominal)

BRANZ was not involved in the selection of these specimens and as-such is unable to comment upon how representative they are of normal production material.

Description of test procedures

The Test methods used can be found in Table 1 below

Results

The results reported here relate only to the items tested.

AS 2498.3 Determination of Compressive Strength

Five specimens 50 x 50 x 50mm (nominal), supplied by the client, were tested. The surfaces of the specimens parallel with the faces of the sample were marked to ensure that they were the load bearing surfaces and that the load was applied perpendicular to these faces. The specimens were tested at a cross head speed of 5mm/minute. The results are recorded in Table 1.

AS 2498.4 Determination of Cross-Breaking (Flexural) Strength

Five specimens 50 x 50 x 200mm (nominal), supplied by the client, were tested. The specimens were tested at a span of 152 mm and a cross head speed of 25 mm/minute. The results are recorded in Table 2

AS2498.5 Determination of water vapour transmission

Five specimens 67mm dia x 25mm (nominal), supplied by the client, were tested. Testing was conducted from 15-Feb-10 to 22-Feb-10 using an environmental chamber set to product conditions of 23.0C and 85.0%RH. The test was terminated after 6 data points were obtained for each of the 5 specimens under test. The results are recorded in Table 3.

AS 2498.6 Determination of dimensional stability

Three specimens 100mm x 100mm x 25mm (nominal), supplied by the client were tested. The length (L) and width (W) of each test specimen were measure at three positions. Two length and width measurements were made 10mm from each edge and the third measure at the centre of each edge. Thickness (T) was measure at five positions, 10mm from each corner and at the centre of each specimen. The specimens were conditioned in an oven set at 70C (dry), measurements were taken aft 20 + 1h, 48 + 2 h, 7 days. The results are recorded in Table 4.

No visual distortion was detected at any of the exposure periods