This European Standard specifies the equipment and procedure for determining the water vapour transmission properties in the steady state under specified test conditions for test specimens of preformed pipe insulation. It is applicable to thermal insulating products.
It is intended to be used for homogeneous materials (see NOTE) and for products which may have integral skins or adhered facings of some different material.
NOTE A material is considered to be homogeneous in terms of mass distribution if its density is approximatively the same throughout, i.e. if the measured density values are close to its mean density.
The water vapour transmission rate and permeance values are specific to the test specimen (i.e. the product) thickness tested. For homogeneous products, the water vapour permeability is a property of the material.
If the pipe insulation is cut from a flat product, then the water vapour transmission properties can be obtained from tests carried out on the flat product with similar properties in accordance with EN 12086.