Ceramic yarn is one of the man-made mineral fibers,popularly known as mineral wool. They are made from natural or syntheticminerals or metal oxides. Ceramic yarn is noted for its high temperatureresistance above 1000°C. Textile made from ceramic fiber yarns have outstandingcharacteristics of lightweight, low thermal conductivity and chemical stabilitythat can resist attack from most corrosive agents. The ceramic fiber yarns areused in high temperature sealing and in producing ceramic fiber tape, rope orfabrics. The ceramic fabrics are widely used in thermal insulation industry.
The Making of Ceramic Yarn
To make ceramic fibers, chemicals like silica are heateduntil they are molten, and then they are spun into hair-like strands. To makeceramic yarns, ceramic fibers are carded with a blend of organic fibers to makerovings. Rovings are soft strands of fiber that have been twisted, attenuated,and freed from foreign matters such as dust etc. before converting into yarn.Then a reinforcement of glass filament or steel wire is introduced to it. Thiscombination is then spun to produce the ceramic yarns. In applications wheretensile strength is significant, textiles manufactured from a glass filamentreinforced yarn may be used up to 550°C. Textiles manufactured from steelreinforced yarn may be used up to 1050°C. Where tensile strength is not soimportant, yarns and textiles may be used up to 1260°C.
Industrial Applications of Ceramic Yarn Fabrics
Ceramic yarns and textiles are mainly applied to a widerange of high temperature sealing and insulating applications. It means that theyare used in materials that come in contact of high temperatures so as toprevent or reduce the passage, transfer, or leakage of heat and electricity. Agood example of this type of product is ceramic blankets. Ceramic fiber ropesare also used as heat insulation materials and a substitute for asbestos rope.NASA engineers had used ceramics for Shuttle tiles that could stand up to theheat of reentry. The fibers were used to fill gaps between orbiter tiles andwere woven into insulation blankets, heat shields and other protective items.
General Uses of Ceramic Yarn Fabrics
Apart from being used in industries as insulating material,ceramic yarn is now also used for warm weather fashion clothing due to its coolnature. However, such fabrics have ceramic in very low percentage. For example,one of such ceramic fabrics is made up of 95% rayon & 5% ceramic. They keepthe wearers cool and protect their skin from harmful UVA & UVB rays. Theyare, in fact, capable of dropping the surface skin temperature by at least 5degrees. Due to their soft sheen, anti-static and washable qualities, they aregradually becoming a choice of fabric for babies & infant wear. Ceramicyarns are also fast becoming popular for knitting projects due to their sameproperties of being cool, soft and silky apart from UVA & UVB raysprotective.
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