Vacuum insulation panels for building application: Basic properties, aging mechanisms and service life

The vacuum insulation panel (VIP) is a high performance thermal insulation component recently introduced into building technology. Its high thermal resistivity provides new solutions for slim but still energy efficient building envelopes. One of the key issues for building application is to minimize failure in service and to ensure a service life in the order of several decades under typical stress conditions especially thermal and hygric effects. However, little experience exists up to now on the long-term properties and the durability of VIPs. This article describes aging mechanisms and reports experimental results for different temperature and humidity induced deteriorations. A functional representation of the measured data at steady state conditions is introduced. For specific VIP applications the internal pressure increase is calculated on the basis of a dynamic thermal model. End-of-life criteria and respective service life estimates are discussed as well.