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The term Thermal Insulation can refer to materials used to reduce the rate of heat transfer, or the methods and processes used to reduce heat transfer.

The major types of insulation are associated with the major types of heat transfer:

• Reflectors are used to reduce radiative heat transfer.
• Foams or fibrous materials are used to reduce conductive heat transfer by reducing physical contact between objects
• Foams, fibrous materials or evacuated spaces are used to reduce convective heat transfer by stopping or retarding the movement of fluids (liquids or gases) around the insulated object.

Combinations of some of these methods are often used, for example the combination of reflective surfaces and vacuum in a vacuum flask.

Understanding heat transfer is important when planning how to insulate an object or a person from heat or cold, for example with correct choice of insulated clothing, or laying insulating materials beneath in-floor heat cables or pipes in order to direct as much heat as possible upwards into the floor surface and reduce heat loss to the ground underneath.