Silica fiber

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Silica fibers are fibers made of sodium silicate (water glass). They are used in heat protection (including asbestos substitution) and in packings and compensators. They can be made such that they are substantially free from non-alkali metal compounds.

Sodium silicate fibres may be used for subsequent production of silica fibres, which is better than producing the latter from a melt containing SiO2 or by acid-leaching of glass fibres. The silica fibres are useful for producing wet webs, filter linings and reinforcing the material.

They can also be used to produce silicic acid fibres by a dry spinning method. These fibres have properties which make them useful in friction-lining materials. [1]

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Silicate Class of chemical compounds

In chemistry, a silicate is any member of a family of anions consisting of silicon and oxygen, usually with the general formula [SiO(4−2x)−
4−x
]
n
, where 0 ≤ x < 2. The family includes orthosilicate SiO4−
4
, metasilicate SiO2−
3
, and pyrosilicate Si
2
O6−
7
. The name is also used for any salt of such anions, such as sodium metasilicate; or any ester containing the corresponding chemical group, such as tetramethyl orthosilicate.

Silicon dioxide Oxide of silicon. Found in nature as quartz and main constituent of sand

Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula SiO2, most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and most abundant families of materials, existing as a compound of several minerals and as a synthetic product. Notable examples include fused quartz, fumed silica, silica gel, and aerogels. It is used in structural materials, microelectronics (as an electrical insulator), and as components in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Reinforced concrete Concrete with rebar

Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC), is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ductility. The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel bars (rebar) and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. Worldwide, in volume terms it is an absolutely key engineering material.

Fiber Natural or synthetic substance made of long, thin filaments

Fiber or fibre is a natural or man-made substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.

Glass fiber Material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.

Fiberglass, or fibreglass is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet, or woven into glass cloth. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinyl ester resin—or a thermoplastic.

Mineral wool Fiber made from spun molten minerals

Mineral wool is any fibrous material formed by spinning or drawing molten mineral or rock materials such as slag and ceramics.

Silica gel Chemical compound

Silica gel is an amorphous and porous form of silicon dioxide (silica), consisting of an irregular tridimensional framework of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms with nanometer-scale voids and pores. The voids may contain water or some other liquids, or may be filled by gas or vacuum. In the last case, the material is properly called silica xerogel.

Slag Glass-like by-product left over after a desired metal has been separated from its raw ore

Slag is the glass-like by-product left over after a desired metal has been separated from its raw ore. Slag is usually a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and elemental metals. While slags are generally used to remove waste in metal smelting, they can also serve other purposes, such as assisting in the temperature control of the smelting, and minimizing any re-oxidation of the final liquid metal product before the molten metal is removed from the furnace and used to make solid metal. In some smelting processes, such as ilmenite smelting to produce titanium dioxide, the slag is the valuable product instead of the metal.

Sodium silicate Hygroscopic chemical compound of variable Na2O/SiO2 ratio precursor of waterglass

Sodium silicate is a generic name for chemical compounds with the formula Na
2x
Si
y
O
2y+x
or (Na
2
O)
x
·(SiO
2
)
y
, such as sodium metasilicate Na
2
SiO
3
, sodium orthosilicate Na
4
SiO
4
, and sodium pyrosilicate Na
6
Si
2
O
7
. The anions are often polymeric. These compounds are generally colorless transparent solids or white powders, and soluble in water in various amounts.

The Bayer process is the principal industrial means of refining bauxite to produce alumina (aluminium oxide) and was developed by Carl Josef Bayer. Bauxite, the most important ore of aluminium, contains only 30–60% aluminium oxide (Al2O3), the rest being a mixture of silica, various iron oxides, and titanium dioxide. The aluminium oxide must be purified before it can be refined to aluminium metal.

Polyacrylonitrile Chemical compound

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN), also known as polyvinyl cyanide and Creslan 61, is a synthetic, semicrystalline organic polymer resin, with the linear formula (C3H3N)n. Though it is thermoplastic, it does not melt under normal conditions. It degrades before melting. It melts above 300 °C if the heating rates are 50 degrees per minute or above. Almost all PAN resins are copolymers made from mixtures of monomers with acrylonitrile as the main monomer. It is a versatile polymer used to produce large variety of products including ultra filtration membranes, hollow fibers for reverse osmosis, fibers for textiles, oxidized PAN fibers. PAN fibers are the chemical precursor of very high-quality carbon fiber. PAN is first thermally oxidized in air at 230 °C to form an oxidized PAN fiber and then carbonized above 1000 °C in inert atmosphere to make carbon fibers found in a variety of both high-tech and common daily applications such as civil and military aircraft primary and secondary structures, missiles, solid propellant rocket motors, pressure vessels, fishing rods, tennis rackets and bicycle frames. It is a component repeat unit in several important copolymers, such as styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic.

Calcium silicate is the chemical compound Ca2SiO4, also known as calcium orthosilicate and is sometimes formulated as 2CaO·SiO2. It is also referred to by the shortened trade name Cal-Sil or Calsil. It occurs naturally as the mineral larnite.

Soda lime

Soda lime is a mixture of NaOH & CaO chemicals, used in granular form in closed breathing environments, such as general anaesthesia, submarines, rebreathers and recompression chambers, to remove carbon dioxide from breathing gases to prevent CO2 retention and carbon dioxide poisoning.

Petrifaction Process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with mineral

In geology, petrifaction or petrification is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this process, but all organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates, can become petrified. Petrifaction takes place through a combination of two similar processes: permineralization and replacement. These processes create replicas of the original specimen that are similar down to the microscopic level.

Refractory

A refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, inorganic, non-metallic, porous, and heterogeneous. They are typically composed of oxides or non oxides like carbides, nitrides etc. of the following materials: silicon, aluminium, magnesium, calcium, and zirconium. Some metals with melting points >1850 °C like niobium, chromium, zirconium, tungsten, rhenium, tantalum, molybdenum etc. are also considered refractories.

Molecular sieve

A molecular sieve is a material with pores of uniform size. These pore diameters are similar in size to small molecules, and thus large molecules cannot enter or be adsorbed, while smaller molecules can. As a mixture of molecules migrate through the stationary bed of porous, semi-solid substance referred to as a sieve, the components of highest molecular weight leave the bed first, followed by successively smaller molecules. Some molecular sieves are used in size-exclusion chromatography, a separation technique that sorts molecules based on their size. Other molecular sieves are used as desiccants.

Dealkalization is a process of surface modification applicable to glasses containing alkali ions, wherein a thin surface layer is created that has a lower concentration of alkali ions than is present in the underlying, bulk glass. This change in surface composition commonly alters the observed properties of the surface, most notably enhancing corrosion resistance.

Deinking is the industrial process of removing printing ink from paperfibers of recycled paper to make deinked pulp.

Porous glass is glass that includes pores, usually in the nanometre- or micrometre-range, commonly prepared by one of the following processes: through metastable phase separation in borosilicate glasses (such as in their system SiO2-B2O3-Na2O), followed by liquid extraction of one of the formed phases; through the sol-gel process; or simply by sintering glass powder.

References

  1. Canadian Patent: CA 1142312, Application Number: 343548 Inventors: Hillermeier, Karlheinz (Germany), Seeberger, Ernst (Germany) Owners: AKZO N.V. (Netherlands)