{"id":12543,"date":"2020-12-01T18:39:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T18:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/?post_type=articles&p=12543"},"modified":"2021-01-04T18:39:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T18:39:58","slug":"a-different-perspective-what-to-know-about-ceramic-fiber","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/articles\/a-different-perspective-what-to-know-about-ceramic-fiber\/","title":{"rendered":"A Different Perspective: What to Know About Ceramic Fiber"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ceramic fiber insulation has been around since the late 1950s and can be found in bulk, board, blocks, and blankets of all thicknesses and densities. It was originally made from white clay called Kaolin found in Georgia and the Carolinas. Believe it or not, ceramic fiber insulation got its roots from refractory.<\/p>\n

Up to the 1980s, there were boiler manufacturing companies that owned their own refractory divisions to manufacture brick and refractory for their boilers. Early on, while making very dense refractory from the white clay, ceramic engineers discovered that when the clay was heated high enough, it became a liquid and sometimes formed long fibers and small beads called \u201cshot.\u201d The engineers found that by using these long fibers and shot, they could make a high-temperature insulating material for applications up to 3,000\u00b0F. These companies saw the need for high-temperature insulation for their boilers, as well as for the steel and foundry industry that manufactured, for example, pulverizer balls, steel casing plates, and drum plates.<\/p>\n

Understandably, high-temperature insulation has more applications in the steel and foundry industry than the power industry. A refractory contractor or distributor may sell as much as twenty times more ceramic fiber insulation materials to their steel and foundry customers as to their power industry customers in a year.<\/p>\n

The furnaces and equipment that are lined or insulated with ceramic fiber in the steel and foundry industry have a different insulation requirement than the boilers and equipment in the power industry. It is all about temperature. A boiler burns fuel in order to make steam or heat by extracting or transferring the 2,000\u00b0F furnace heat to the tube wall surfaces. Foundries use their 2,000\u00b0F furnace heat as part of their manufacturing process to anneal, bake, or melt, depending on their product or products they sell.<\/p>\n

Usage of ceramic fiber will depend on the industry using it. The next sections provide examples of how ceramic fiber is used in different industries.<\/p>\n

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Power Industry<\/h2>\n

The power industry uses boilers to make steam and heat for generating electricity and not for manufacturing any given product. The use of ceramic fiber is localized and found in different areas of a boiler such as:<\/p>\n