The Influence of Operational Factors on the Thermal Conductivity of Polystyrene Foam Boards

The influence of operational factors on the thermal conductivity coefficient of polystyrene foam boards is investigated. In the study the initial density, humidity, the number of cycles of alternating freezing-thawing of polystyrene foam boards and the amplitude of the transition temperature through zero were taken as operational factors. To describe the response surface a four-factor laboratory experiment was conducted according to the second-order plan: 1 \( Y = \left( {X_1 ,X_2 ,X_3 ,X_4 } \right) \) At the same time a composite three-level symmetrical plan was used as it has a sufficiently high efficiency according to the main statistical criteria and includes 24 experiments. Based on the results of the laboratory experiment a regression model was constructed for further in-depth analysis which resulted in the conclusion about the influence of the investigated operational factors on thermal conductivity of polystyrene foam boards.