The creation of new technological processes and improvement of existing technologies vacuum molding
The creation of new technological processes and the improvement of existing technologies, which use refractory materials for various purposes and technical ceramics with application temperatures up to 19000С, require from these materials not only high thermal insulation characteristics as such, but also sufficient strength and high mechanical properties.
Besides, some parts – both in the newly developed units and in the traditional ones – could well be replaced by light and durable elements made, in particular, of ceramic fibers and fibers with bio-soluble properties.
Recently, the world leaders in ceramic fibers production have begun to pay more attention to vacuum-formed products and expand the range of this product type. Application temperatures of such products are claimed to be quite high - up to 18000С.
Most experts and designers mistakenly believe that light materials may be used as heat insulating materials at any temperatures. The ambiguity of such conclusion is easily explained. This is related to traditional and superficial approaches, when the vast majority of heat insulating materials are used in everyday life and construction for the purpose of energy saving. The maximum operating temperatures of such insulation unlikely exceed 8000С.
However, they forget that at temperatures approaching 8000С, the predominant heat transfer is radiation and that, at higher temperatures, a whole group of heat insulating light materials may fall short of their thermal insulating properties as compared to dense and heavy materials.
The determining factors here are the structure of the material, the size of pores, the number of defects in the continuous phase, and a number of optical and magnetic properties of the substance used for the production of this or that thermal insulating element.
Creation of the necessary structure, as well as management of this structure, is in fact the future of heat insulating materials used in high-temperature processes.
It is possible to get light materials that could work in contact with liquid metals, both non-ferrous and alloy steel, to produce filters for the purification of hot gases with application temperatures up to 18000С, to form light refractory products, instead of dense and bulky refractories with high abrasion resistance and high mechanical properties.
Keeping up with progress and, when possible, be ahead of it, is the goal of enterprises engaged not only in production, but also in scientific research.
Our long experience of working with heat insulating materials, in which not only fibrous and foamed materials act as a source of thermal energy conservation, allowed us to develop a technology for manufacturing light products with flexible and adjustable properties and application temperatures up to 18000С.
Our company is one of the few producers able to make large, light and durable fiber products by way of vacuum molding. The dimensions of monolithic products where the use of component elements is excluded, may reach up to 1000 mm along three axes, with wall thickness from 10 to 100 mm.
In the case of greater dimensions and greater thickness, we successfully use various adhesives and mastics of our own production.
