This  Standard  was  prepared  by  the  Joint  Standards  Australia/Standards  New  Zealand Committee BD-058, Thermal Insulation, to supersede, AS/NZS 4859.1:2002, Materials  for  the thermal insulation of buildings, Part 1: General criteria and technical provisions.

The objective of this revision is to restructure the Standard as a material properties and test methods  Standard  and  include  latest  thermal  insulation  products  testing  not  previously covered by the Standard.

The significant changes in this edition are as follows:

(a)  The relocation of all thermal insulation system design to a separate Part of this series (i.e. AS/NZS 4859.2).
(b)  The deletion of the references to the AS 1366 suite of Standards.
(c)  The inclusion of a wider range of thermal insulation materials and, in particular, rigid foam products.

Emphasis  has  been  given  to  the  development  of  clear  and  concise  requirements  for determination and labelling of thermal performance, a primary performance requirement for these materials. Another consideration is the effect of ageing of materials where there is a significant change in the insulation properties of those materials over time.

In this Standard, notes to the main text are for information and guidance only.

The  terms  ‘normative’  and  ‘informative’  have  been  used  in  this  Standard  to  define  the application of the appendix to which they apply. A ‘normative’ appendix is an integral part of a Standard, whereas an ‘informative’ appendix is only for information and guidance.

If alternative tests to those prescribed in this Standard are to be used, they would need to be considered as part of the development of a Performance Solution to demonstrate compliance with the relevant Performance Requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) and
be accepted by the relevant building authority.

Originated in Australia as part of AS2352—1980, AS 2461—1981, AS 2462—1981, AS 2463—1981, AS 2464.1—1981, AS 2464.2—1981, AS 2464.3—1983, AS 2464.4—1981, AS 2464.5—1985, AS 2464.6—1983, AS 2464.7—1990 and AS 3742—1990. Originated in New Zealand as NZS 1340:1959. Final New Zealand edition NZS 4222:1992. AS 2352—1980, AS 2461—1981, AS 2462—1981, AS 2463—1981, AS 2464.1—1981, AS 2464.2—1981, AS 2464.3—1983, AS 2464.4—1981, AS 2464.5—1985, AS 2464.6—1983, AS 2464.7—1990, AS 3742—1990 and NZS 4222:1992 jointly revised, amalgamated and redesignated as AS/NZS 4859.1:2002.