Refractory fibers

Glass fibers Rock Fibers Slag fibers Refractory ceramic Ubers... 

Refractory materials can be melted, spun, and blown into fiber strands similar to wool or blanket insulations. They are used in many medium- and low-temperature furnaces and ovens furnaces, and for outer layers in multilayered refractory walls. Because of all their small air spaces, they are much better insulators than solid refractories, but they are more fragile, less durable, and more difficult to install so that they do not settle, shrink, or otherwise lose their good insulating property. Many of the suggestions in a later section on insulation installation can apply to fiber refractory installation. 

A technique for use of fiber refractories in higher temperature furnaces is to fold and compress them in many horizontal layers, stacked one above the other, to form thick insulating walls. See the door and walls in Figure 3.5. Patented holders keep them in place and compacted. Abrasion, shrinkage, and porosity can be problems, but careful installation and use has proven them successful in specific applications. Installation can be faster and less expensive than monolithic and other rigid wall construction methods. 

The industrial value of furfuryl alcohol is a consequence of its low viscosity, high reactivity, and the outstanding chemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of its polymers, corrosion resistance, nonburning, low smoke emission, and exceUent char formation. The reactivity profile of furfuryl alcohol and resins is such that final curing can take place at ambient temperature with strong acids or at elevated temperature with latent acids. Major markets for furfuryl alcohol resins include the production of cores and molds for casting metals, corrosion-resistant fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs), binders for refractories and corrosion-resistant cements and mortars. 

With the exception of glass fiber, asbestos (qv), and the specialty metallic and ceramic fibers, textile fibers are a class of soHd organic polymers distinguishable from other polymers by their physical properties and characteristic geometric dimensions (see Glass Refractory fibers). The physical properties of textile fibers, and indeed of all materials, are a reflection of molecular stmcture and intermolecular organization. The abiUty of certain polymers to form fibers can be traced to several stmctural features at different levels of organization rather than to any one particular molecular property. 

See Aluminum COMPOUNDS, aluminum oxide (alumina) Asbestos Glass Refractory fibers Silica. 

Relatively smaller amounts of very high purity A1F. are used ia ultra low loss optical fiber—duotide glass compositions, the most common of which is ZBLAN containing tirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum, and sodium (see Fiber optics). High purity A1F. is also used ia the manufacture of aluminum siUcate fiber and ia ceramics for electrical resistors (see Ceramics AS electrical materials Refractory fibers). 

C or higher for the kaolin-based products to 1425°C and above for the zirconium-containing materials. At temperatures above 1000°C these ceramic fibers tend to devitrify and partially crystallize. Specially prepared ceramic fibers are used to protect space vehicles on re-entry and can withstand temperatures above 1250°C (see Ablative materials Refractory fibers). 

Both molybdenum and tungsten can be worked in air without ductiHty loss. AH refractory metals can be made into tubing by extmsion, and most refractory metals, except chromium, are available as wine. Tungsten wines were attempted as fiber reinforcement for experimental nickel-base composites. 

Manufacture of P-Silicon Carbide. A commercially utilized appHcation of polysdanes is the conversion of some homopolymers and copolymers to siHcon carbide (130). For example, polydimethyl silane is converted to the ceramic in a series of thermal processing steps. SiHcon carbide fibers is commercialized by the Nippon Carbon Co. under the trade name Nicalon (see Refractory fibers). 

Rock wool, frequently referred to as mineral fiber, is made from non virgin siUceous materials and is formed in a similar manner to that of fiber glass. Refractory fibers (qv), also formed in a similar manner, are available for high temperature appHcations. 

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