For you thermal insulation materials guys.

[bjgerm]

I have been using a foamed clay pellet for insulation (<1700°F)and my source has dried up. Can anyone help identify an inexpensive alternative material? The current material is hydroscopic (an important factor), has a Thermal Conductivity 400°C = 0.106 W/mK, 800°C = .183 W/mK, density = 300–350 kg/m3 and >90% porosity.

Must also be castable.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[unclesyd]

Here is the possibility of one producer of such a product.

http://www.gcpflolite.com/en/index.htm

 

[bjgerm]

Thanks, unclesyd. You were right one the button with the correct stuff. However, this is precisely the stuff I was using and am trying to replace as Goonvean has closed their doors on this product and it is no longer available. Any more ideas?

 

[unclesyd]

Lost another one to Dieteck.
I know someone else that going to be hurting, bad.
Thanks for the reply.
I'll try to get in touch with my refractory buddy tomorrow.

 

[XELR8]

Hi bjgerm,

I am working on a project and I am interested in the name of the company who manfactured your foam clay pellet.

If no name, can you elude to the manufacturing process of the clay?

Thanks

 

[unclesyd]

bjgerm and Dracula,

Here is the company that made some of the processing equipment especially the Torbed Reactor.

http://www.torftech.com/index.php

The following company worked on the process and accomplished the testing.

http://www.ceram.com/contacts/az/

Dracula

Go to this site, the entire process is outlined.

 

[bjgerm]

Dracula,

If you follow the link that unclesyd prvided (

http://www.gcpflolite.com/en/index.htm

) it will bring you to the product that I was using and am trying to replace and as much information as I could ever provide.

Again thanks to unclesyd for the links. I'll cruze those on Monday.

 

[XELR8]

bjgerm & unclesyd,

Thank you very much for the information and getting me started on this process.

I will pursue this information and start a forum if further information is required.

Thanks!

 

[unclesyd]

Would it be possible to elaborate on the end use of this product?
This might ring a few bells or in my case slow the windmills.

 

[bjgerm]

I am using it for one shot fire protection. Kind of like the "Black Box" on aircraft.

 

[bjgerm]

unclesyd,

You mentioned that you have a buddy that was using(?) Flolite? Any chance you could hook us up so that I might colaborate with him/her in locating a replacement material?

 

[unclesyd]

bjgerm,
I contacted them this evening with you proposal.
They were contemplating the use of the material as a catalyst support. They had only got to the physical measurements, like porosity, pore size, strengths on the sample they had.
At present they have no interest in pursuing this route as they have other media that they can use. Their interest was mainly in the low density of the material.

 

[bjgerm]

unclesyd,
Thanks for the effort. The guys @ Goonvean suggested giving pearlite a try as it has similar properties. So, that's what I'm pursuing at the moment.

 

[unclesyd]

There is a foamed Perlite material out there that is used for aggregate in light weight insulating refractories that might do the trick. Also the variation on the expanded form of Perlite. You might also look at Vermiculite.

Do your material necessarily have to in aggregate form?

What is the absolute max temperature will the material see?

 

[unclesyd]

Here is some cutting edge technology that may be of interest to you. I would give them a call as they have several item in the pipeline.

http://www.aspenaerogels.com/

 

[bjgerm]

Max temp peaks @ 1700F. FYI, I have conducted a first round of testing and the expanded pearlite configuration seems to be performing better then the Flolite (in my application anyway). This is a pleasant surprise as the cost is also considerably lower... and local.

As for the Aerogels...pricey stuff...I'll be using many thousands of cubic feet per year. Well, probably wouldn't be nearly the amount of aerogel as compared to pearlite.

I also came across some cool stuff from:

http://www.cellaris.com/index.html

I'll be testing this Monday just for fun and comparison as this is also quite pricey @ $12/liter.