Ceramic Fiber Encyclopedia

Introduction

Ceramic fiber is a kind of aluminum silicate fiber, the main composition is Al₂O₃·SiO₂. Because of its own high temperature performance, and ceramic fiber’s micro-internal porous structure, this make the ceramic fiber's Stomatal ratio is very high, Stomatal diameter and specific surface areas are both bigger. So the ceramic fiber has good insulation properties and smaller volume density. Ceramic fiber is a lightweight refractory material, with light weight, high temperature, good thermal stability, low thermal conductivity, small thermal expansion, small heat capacity and resistance to mechanical vibration and so on. And long life, non-toxic, is the best alternative to asbestos material. After processing, the ceramic fiber can be produced into: ceramic fiber blanket, ceramic fiber paper, ceramic fiber board, ceramic fiber felt, ceramic fiber castable, ceramic fiber cloth, ceramic fiber tape, ceramic fiber braided rope, ceramic fiber twisted rope, ceramic fiber sleeve and other products. Due to the above characteristics of ceramic fibers, these products are now widely used in metallurgy, chemical, petroleum, ceramics, glass, electricity, machinery, ships and other industries in the heat insulation and insulation equipment.

Name Source

Ceramic fiber’s main composition is Al₂O₃, and Al₂O₃ is the main composition of ceramic, so we called it ceramic fiber. Because of the different composition of Al₂O₃ and SiO₂, aluminum silicate fiber can be divided into many kinds, but the general ceramic fiber Al₂O₃ + SiO₂≥95%, and Al₂O₃≥40%, SiO₂≥50%.

Development History

Ceramic fiber first appeared in 1941, the United States Company Babcock & Wilcox used natural kaolin and after electric arc furnace melting into the fiber. In the late 1940s, two US companies produced aluminum silicate fibers and used them in the aviation industry for the first time. In the 1950s, ceramic fiber was put into industrial production. In the 1960s, a variety of products were developed and used as industrial furnace lining.

After the 1973 world energy crisis, ceramic fiber in the world has been rapid development until today.

Manufacturing Method & Process

For the ceramic fiber in the manufacturing method, the melting method and the chemical method (colloid method) coexist and simultaneously develop to meet the needs of different varieties of use. Melt method is often used in the production of amorphous (glassy state) fiber. The melting method low technical content, low production cost, the application of a wide range of products. It’s mainly used for industrial furnaces, heating equipment, fire insulation applications in the field of basic materials. The Chemical method is mainly used for production of polycrystalline crystal fiber. This method has high technological content, high production costs, added value is also high. But the product output is still less, mainly used for high temperature industrial furnace above 1300℃ and aerospace, aviation , nuclear energy and other high technology.

On the production process, the earliest birth of the spinning production process, but the single-line production capacity is low, a single production line with an annual output of 1000-1500 tons. With the improvement of production efficiency, ultimately invented a more advanced production technology, throw silk production process, of a single production line production capacity to achieve 2-4 times the spinning process. Throw silk process could supply annual output nearly 6,000 tons for a single line. Throw silk production process has been accepted by most of the companies in the world. But the spinning fiber also has its unique application, if you need to break the fiber after the second processing products (such as: the production of vacuum molding products, etc.), spin fiber because of the finer diameter and more easily mixed with other raw materials, so it is more suitable in somewhere.

Practical Application

1. Textiles

The ceramic fiber textiles are made of throw silk and reinforcement filaments. They have the characteristics of high temperature insulation, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, non-toxic harmless, and no adverse effect on the environment. And they also have the traditional refractory fiber products of high temperature strength, anti-mechanical shock, anti-impact and other excellent performance. Ceramic fiber yarn can be made to:ceramic fiber cloth, ceramic fiber tape, ceramic fiber braided rope, ceramic fiber twisted rope, and ceramic fiber sleeves.

2. Filling materials and friction materials

Ceramic fiber products have compression resilience. They can be used as high temperature packing material. We could make a high temperature filling material without asbestos prepared from ceramic fiber, nitrile rubber, inorganic binder, mica and non-expanded vermiculite. We could also produce a water-resistant sealing material having good adhesion properties in water by using ceramic fiber, high-alumina cement, synthetic rubber and water-absorbent polymers. Ceramic fibers, like glass fibers and rock wool, can be used to make non-asbestos friction materials. This type of friction material is characterized by stable friction coefficient, good wear resistance, and low noise.

3. Ferroelectric piezoelectric material

Functional ceramic fiber has excellent ferroelectric, dielectric and other properties. It is an ideal ferroelectric piezoelectric material.

PZT is the most important ferroelectric piezoelectric material. It is currently the most widely used ferroelectric piezoelectric ceramic fiber, it is in the ultrasound materials, intelligent materials, and so has a great application potential.

4. Filter material

Ceramic fiber composite membrane is a high performance ceramic filter material; this material is developed based on the ceramic membrane technology which is used in high temperature gas purification. It is composed of high-strength porous ceramic support and high porosity ceramic fiber composite membrane composition. Compared with the ordinary ceramic membrane material, its permeability of the membrane material, thermal performance has been further improved.

5. Absorbing material

Ceramic fiber material can overcome the oxidation resistance and high temperature, corrosion resistance and other shortcomings compared with metal fiber. And the ceramic fiber has a good performance such as electromagnetic absorption which can be widely used in the field of absorbing bearers. This could be broadly used in the field of civil and national defense high technology.

Technical specification data

Composition: Al₂O₃+SiO₂≥95%

Color: White

Fiber diameter: 1~4μm

Fiber length: 50~150mm

Heat shrinkage rate(1232℃, 24h): 3.5%

Thermal Conductivity(538℃, 8pcf): 0.130w/m·k

Breakdown voltage: 5kv/mm

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