Material Properties Flashcards
7 cards from real ASHRAE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Material Properties flashcards as text
Why does R-13 cavity insulation in a steel-stud wall deliver much less than R-13 overall?
Answer: Steel conducts heat roughly 400 times better than wood and forms thermal bridges
Steel (~50 W/m·K) conducts far better than wood (~0.12 W/m·K), so an R-13 cavity in 16-in. o.c. steel studs works out to only about R-6.
What happens to the dynamic viscosity of liquid water as its temperature rises?
Answer: It decreases
Liquid water gets thinner as it warms, so friction losses in hot water piping are a bit lower.
An assembly has a total thermal resistance, including air films, of R-20. What is its U-factor?
Answer: 0.05 Btu/h·ft²·°F
U = 1/R_total = 1/20 = 0.05 Btu/h·ft²·°F.
About what thermal resistance does ASHRAE list for still air on the inside of a vertical surface with heat flowing horizontally?
Answer: R-0.68
ASHRAE lists still air on a vertical surface at about 0.68 h·ft²·°F/Btu, compared with about 0.17 for an outside surface in a 15 mph wind.
What is the ozone depletion potential (ODP) of R-410A?
Answer: 0
R-410A is an HFC blend with no chlorine, so its ODP is zero, even though its GWP is high (~2,088).
How does the thermal conductivity of austenitic stainless steel compare with carbon steel?
Answer: It is much lower, about 16 vs 50 W/m·K
Austenitic stainless steel has about one-third the conductivity of carbon steel, which reduces heat transfer in thin-wall exchangers.
Which insulation is most commonly used on refrigerant suction lines to stop condensation?
Answer: Flexible closed-cell elastomeric foam
Closed-cell elastomeric foam has very low vapor permeance and needs no separate vapor jacket, so moisture does not get in on cold lines.