Hohhot, Inner Mongolia -- China's fifth Polyurethane Exterior Insulation Seminar was held on 15 September, 2014 in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
The event was jointly organised by the China Polyurethane Industry Association (CPUIA) and the technology promotion department of local government and attracted more than 200 delegates from government departments, research institutes and enterprises including Wanhua, BASF, Bayer, Huntsman and Huafeng.
During the meeting China's Code of Design on Building Fire Protection and Prevention, to be implemented in May 2015, was a subject that attracted wide attention.
"The new code uses oxygen index as the standard for flame retardant rating, which is unfair for PU materials," secretary-general of CPUIA Zhu Changchun told UTECH-polyurethane.com.
"I do not want to assume any reason behind this overly stringent regulation but there has been misunderstanding of PU materials among the public."
"For instance, the 2010 Shanghai fire was caused by PU panels but that's because the contractor used materials that are below the standard. I've never seen B1 or B2 class PU materials responsible for any fire," Zhu added.
Xin Bo, manager of Wanhua's marketing department, also told the meeting PU has the lowest thermal conductivity coefficient among all known insulation materials.”
According to CPUIA's website, the use of PU for exterior insulation can add 1-1.5% to room net floor area compared with other materials.
This means at least an extra 10m㎡/year net-size based on China's annual floor area completed, Xin Bo added.
Currently PU accounts for 57% of exterior insulation materials used in the US and 32% in Japan, while in the China market the figure is less than 10%, according to Zhu.
"We are hoping PU insulation panels will have a 20-30% annual growth rate over the next five years," Zhu added. "And take up a 30% market share in China by 2020."
