Asbestos use in styrofoam-based products & applications:

This article series provides a master list of the forms in which asbestos was used, a list of known asbestos-containing materials, and links to detailed articles about individual asbestos-containing products & materials found in buildings and in a wide range of products used in both home and industry.

Asbestos used in Styrofoam Products

Question: asbestos combined with polystyrene: Zonoite Dyzone™ Insulated Roof Panels

2019/02/15 Justin said:

Do you know if asbestos was ever combined with polystyrene? recently I found a package of polystyrene in my attic that was made by the grace mining company and had the zonolite brand on it.

Reply: examples of asbestos combined with polystyrene products

Justin:

Yes asbestos was combined with polystyrene in some products in North America at least from the 1950's through the 1970s, possibly longer.

Zonolite, combined with WR Grace, produced Duzone™ insulated roof panels using a vented polystyrene board that combined Zonoite™ insulating concrete ( using vermiculite insulation that contained asbestos) with a structural base of concrete or metal.

To be clear, in most instances the combination of asbestos-containing materials and polystyrene foam board or styrofoam board were hybrid products combining several materials rather than a simple mix of asbestos fibers or filler right in the polystyrene formula itself.

However pure styrofoam insulating panels like the Zonolite PanelFoam insulating panels shown in your photos (below) are not likely to contain asbestos unless by cross-contamination as I will mention below.

Othe examples of combinations of asbestos in some form, such as asbestos cement board with polystyrene or styrofoam

• Jobbins, Howell S., and Walter J. Schwarz. "Process for coating asbestos-cement products." U.S. Patent 2,716,619, issued August 30, 1955.
  Excerpt:
  
  A process for preparing a non-blooming asbestoscement product with a temporary coating which comprises applying to the surface of an asbestos-cement sheet a plasticized polystyrene resin in a dilute liquid carrier, drying the sheet to drive off the liquid carrier, said resin ...

and

• Buckler, Ernest Jack, and Michael Hugh Richmond. "Filled-polystyrene laminates." U.S. Patent 4,101,050, issued July 18, 1978.
  
  Excerpt:
  Thermoplastic polystyrene laminates are disclosed, one of the layers of which comprises a filled polystyrene composition containing from about 5 to about 50
  of filler, such as calcium carbonate, clay, asbestos, etc. The filled ...

Confounding research on the combination of asbestos in polystyrene foam panels or insulation products is that those terms polystyrene and asbestos also appear in cancer and asbestos research papers - but in other completely different applications.

Example:

• Heintz, Nicholas H., Yvonne M. Janssen, and Brooke T. Mossman. "Persistent induction of c-fos and c-jun expression by asbestos." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 90, no. 8 (1993): 3299-3303.
  
  Excerpt:
  … in RPM cells. Cellsat confluence were exposed to NIEHS processed crocidolite or NIEHS chrysotile asbestos or polystyrene microspheres for 8 hr and RNA was isolated for Northern blot analyses.

Asbestos is also mentioned specifically along with other Zonolite styrofoam insulating panels like the Dyzone™ insulated panels that I illustrate above

I have not found a confirmation that asbestos was part of the formula of the PanelFoam product shown in your photo. (I'd appreciate seeing more complete images of all of the packaging information on all sides).

Asbestos also appeared in some composite products that included styrofoam, such as SIPs or structural insulated panels that used styrofoam cores covered by a skin that could include fiber cement or asbestos cement board. - cf: Ziegler, E. E. "Foamed Polystyrene in Thin Shell Construction." Structural Foams 892 (1961).

These products were combined in the U.S. as early as the 1930s

• Finefrock, Thomas P., and William F. O'neil. "Acoustical or insulating plaster." U.S. Patent 2,060,295, issued November 10, 1936.

Even current patent disclosures discuss these forms of asbestos use

• Yoshiro, O. D. A., Tomoya Tsuboi, and Yoshinori Hasegawa. "Polyamide resin composition for damping material." U.S. Patent Application 15/521,031, filed November 2, 2017.
  
  Excerpt:
  
  The polyamide resin composition according to any one of the above <1> to <18>, wherein the acicular filler has an aspect ratio (particle length/particle size) within the range of 2 or more and 150 or less and a ratio of length to breadth in a cross section (cross-sectional ratio of length to breadth) calculated by the above formula of 1 or more and less than 2, and potassium titanate whiskers, aluminum borate whiskers, magnesium-based whiskers, silicon-based whiskers, wollastonite, sepiolite, asbestos, zonolite, phosphate fibers, ellestadite, slag fibers, gypsum fibers, silica fibers, silica alumina fibers, zirconia fibers, boron nitride fibers, silicon nitride fibers, and boron fibers are preferred, and potassium titanate whiskers and wollastonite are more preferred.

OPINION: Depending on where the Zonolite styrofoam panels were manufactured, and when, I also can't rule out the possibility of cross-contamination of it b y asbestos from other products, as happened in other circumstances with other officially "non-asbestos" materials.

Keep in mind that not all vermiculite contains asbestos - the asbestos in vermiculite products depends on where and sometimes even when the vermiculit was mined. For example, among the most famous, vermiculite mined from Zonolite Mountain is contaminated with amphibole asbestiform asbestos.

Details are at VERMICULITE INSULATION

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2020-01-27 - by (mod) - does this paper-backed foam-board contain asbestos?

Clever: a "twofer" combined photo to ask two asbestos-content questions at once.

James:

Late 70's in north America drywall, joint compound, and the backer on that vinyl flooring may indeed contain asbestos.

The paper-backed insulating foam board, less likely to contain asbestos, as you can read on this page.

On 2020-01-27 by James Pace

I'm doing a remodel on a log home that was built in the mid to late 70's. When I opened up a wood panel wall, there were studs and then a foam insulation board with paper backing, but no markings as to the manufacturer.

The drywall/gypsum boards are unlabeled as well.

There's also old vinyl flooring which one contractor had mentioned might be asbestos, as well as the insulation board and drywall.

I'm attaching pics, can you help me identify the possibility of asbestos? This Q&A were posted originally at SHEATHING, FIBERBOARD ASBESTOS CONTENT.

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Continue reading  at ASBESTOS LIST of PRODUCTS - topic home, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Also see these

Recommended Articles

• ASBESTOS INSULATION
• ASBESTOS STYROFOAM PANELS
• ASBESTOS TESTING LAB LIST
• BASEMENT HEAT LOSS
• ENERGY SAVINGS PRIORITIES
• POLYISOCYANURATE FOAM
• INSULATION LOCATION for PASSIVE SOLAR FLOOR SLAB
• INSULATION INSPECTION & IMPROVEMENT
• INSULATION LOCATION for BASEMENT WALLS
• RIGID FOAM USE INDOORS
• SLAB INSULATION, RADIANT / PASSIVE SOLAR
• STRESS SKIN / STRUCTURAL INSULATED PANELS (SIPs)
• VERMICULITE INSULATION

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