What is Thermal mass?

Thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb and store heat energy. A lot of heat energy is required to change the temperature of high density materials like concrete, bricks and tiles. They are therefore said to have high thermal mass. Lightweight materials such as timber have low thermal mass. Appropriate use of thermal mass throughout your home can make a big difference to comfort and heating and cooling bills.

Thermal mass can store solar energy during the day and re-radiate it at night.

Thermal mass, correctly used, moderates internal temperatures by averaging out diurnal (day−night) extremes. This increases comfort and reduces energy costs.

https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/thermal-mass

• Safer sites from less clutter
• High thermal mass, providing energy cost saving benefits
• Dense precast concrete is generally not subject to rising damp or structural damage from condensation or dew-point formation.
• The life expectancy of concrete structures is more than 100 years
• Recycled aggregate and steel can be used in precast concrete.
• Thermal mass can store solar energy during the day and re-radiate it at night.
• Structural precast concrete panels are a strong, durable and versatile building material, particularly suited to Australia’s harsh climatic extremes and requiring minimal maintenance.
• Precast finishes are highly impact resistant, withstand wear and tear, and require minimal repairs and maintenance.
• High insulation levels are simply achieved.
• Insulated, 270mm-thick, precast sandwich wall panels (70mm concrete externally, 50mm XPS foam, 150mm concrete internally) commonly used in residential construction achieve a total R-value of 2.42. This can easily be increased by selecting foam of 80mm or 100mm.
• Precast concrete provides one of the highest levels of acoustic separation of any common housing construction system for both internal and external walls.
• Almost any shape or size of connection can be achieved with detailed engineering design.