Knauf Comfortboard is the thinnest and lightest thermal mass construction product on the Australian market.
The globally patented process uses Phase Change Materials (PCM - tiny polymer balls containing paraffin wax) embedded in plasterboard. As the temperature rises, the wax melts, absorbs the heat from the room and stores it inside the board. When the temperature drops, the wax solidifies and releases that latent heat back into the room, maintaining a more consistent temperature and reducing the need for mechanical heating and cooling.
Comfortboard combines innovation with ease of use to provide a sustainable, long-term solution to internal temperature regulation.
Comfortboard provides architects, designers and specifiers with the thinnest and lightest thermal mass lining on the market, and has the added advantage of the ease of installation that comes with a standard plasterboard product. This eliminates the need for specialist training or change to building practices, and allows for a space saving efficiency of between 5 and 8 per cent.
The technology in the board is where the real benefits lie in the cost saving for the end user by reducing the reliance on mechanical heating and cooling. Projects that are constructed using Comfortboard thermal mass lining will offer a more attractive end result for buyers and will have the added benefit of better meeting sustainable requirements from the perspective of building management and maintenance.
KEY INITIATIVES
- At 12.5mm and 11kg/m2, Comfortboard is the thinnest and lightest thermal mass lining on the Australian market providing space saving designs
- Ease of installation: installed like plasterboard and because the PCM is embedded in the board there are no extra steps involved in installation
- Dynamic temperature management reduces extremes in indoor temperatures by up to 4oC thereby reducing energy costs and dependency on active heating and cooling
- Design flexibility - used in exactly the same way as plasterboard and can be installed in ceilings where the majority of heat exchange occurs
- PCMs are virtually indestructible - can withstand sawing and drilling allowing for any design specifications
- Around four times the thermal mass per millimetre as extruded brick
- Comfortboard is made from industrial gypsum and >97 per cent recycled paper - neither the board nor the embedded PCMs emit VOCs
- Innovative lifetime performance - tests conclude that there is no reduction in efficacy over a period of over 30 years
