High Temperature Insulation Products
- High temperature insulation products come in a wide variety of forms.spiraling insulation image by jbattx from Fotolia.com
High temperature insulation products come in a variety of materials and forms depending upon what you need to insulate. Whether the application is wrapping a hot pipe, fire-proofing a wall, ceiling or floor, shielding delicate electronics or increasing the efficiency of furnaces, boilers or manufacturing process that require high heat, someone makes a high temperature insulation product to do the job. Some are quite remarkable. - The efficacy of any high temperature insulation product is dependent first upon the material it is made of. Asbestos was long the gold standard of high temperature insulation until the dangers of its usage were revealed. Asbestos is still the only viable material for some applications and remains in use with precautions taken to protect users. Perlite/silica, like asbestos, is volcanic in origin and can be made into a variety of forms. Researchers continue to develop ceramic insulation materials such as the famous space shuttle tiles, which possess a remarkable ability to absorb and bleed off heat. Other materials including fiberglass, mineral wool, polyisocyanurate and polyurethane plastic resins, magnesium oxide and even cellulose provide heat resistance when properly formed.
- All these materials are made into stunning varieties of forms to create high temperature insulation products. Silicates can be woven into fibrous mats, mixed with chemicals to create spray-on foams, molded into shapes with other materials for things like brake linings and clutch plates. Minerals like magnesium oxide, cellulose and glass can be spun into wool to pack around hot pipes and into spaces between machinery and surrounding walls or work-spaces. Plastic resins can be poured or sprayed on or combined with other materials to create custom shaped foam insulating blocks or boards. Spun fibers can be made into thick mats, cloth or solid shapes. Ceramics, silicates and metals can be formed into thin film, plates, laminates or foils.
- The reason there are so many high temperature insulation products is that each type of material and each form the insulation takes has advantages and disadvantages. Asbestos has some of the best insulating properties of all materials, but its manufacture and use in certain application is dangerous to the lungs of workers. Plastic resins can give off fumes that cause health risks to workers in areas where it is installed. Some ceramics are brittle and come loose under pressure as the space shuttle tiles have done. Liquid and spray-on foams can be messy and unforgiving to apply. Prices vary widely, making some excellent insulation types too costly for ordinary applications. Manufacturers therefore create thousands of types and forms of high temperature insulation products to fit the needs of consumers.
