Evacuated foam insulation panel containing a getter material

Abstract

There is an evacuated insulation panel having a corestock of a polymer foam having an open cell content of 70 percent or more. There is a getter material in the interior of the panel to adsorb gases and vapors which may permeate into the panel over an extended period of time.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An evacuated polymer foam insulation panel, the panel comprising a corestock of an extruded, microcellular, open-cell foam and a receptacle capable of enclosing the corestock and being hermetically-sealed, the corestock being situated within the receptacle, the interior of the receptacle and the corestock being evacuated to a subatmospheric pressure, the foam comprising an alkenyl aromatic polymer material comprising greater than 50 percent by weight alkenyl aromatic monomeric units, the foam having an open cell content of 70 percent or more, the foam having an average cell size of about 70 micrometers or less, the interior of the receptacle having a getter material. 
     
     
       2. The panel of Claim 1, wherein the interior of the receptacle and the corestock being evacuated to an absolute pressure of about 10 torr or less, the polymer foam having an open cell content of about 90 percent or more, the polymer foam having a density of from about 16 to about 250 kilograms per cubic meter. 
     
     
       3. The panel of claim 1, wherein the interior of the receptacle and the corestock being evacuated to an absolute pressure of about 1 torr or less, the polymer foam having an open cell content of about 95 percent or more, the polymer foam having a density of from about 25 to about 100 kilograms per cubic meter. 
     
     
       4. The panel of claim 3, wherein the foam has an average cell size of about 1 micrometer to about 30 micrometers. 
     
     
       5. The panel of claim 3, wherein the foam has an average cell size of about 1 micrometer to about 20 micrometers. 
     
     
       6. The panel of claim 3, wherein the foam has an average cell size of about 1 micrometer to about 10 micrometers. 
     
     
       7. The panel of claim 3, wherein the getter material comprises metals or alloys of metals selected from the group consisting of barium, aluminum, calcium, iron, nickel, and vanadium.