FINEFLEX BIO™ Cast and RCF
In this article, we will introduce our NICHIAS FINEFLEX BIO™ Cast product and its comparison to other RCF castable materials.
Alkaline Earth Silicate (AES) fibre is one of the many different solutions that can be used instead of RCF. AES is also a man-made fibre (similar to RCF) with heat resistance up to 1200°C.
Below is a comparison of RCF and AES material in the form of castable solution
RCF and AES fibrecast comparison chart
NICHIAS conducted comparison research into RCF and AES fibrecast products as a part of an R&D led review project. Below is a list of three main differences that were noted as a result.
1) Surface condition and ease of installation
The consistency of the products is relatively similar. However, AES offers the space for adding a rigidizer to increase consistency to customer’s requirements.
2) Porosity
AES seems to be more porous than RCF material which may lead to crumbling if not applied correctly. However, this may also be corrected with the inclusion of rigidizer.
3) Shrinkage
After installation, shrinkage with AES fiber systems is a more significant issue to manage than with RCF ones.
The outcome of this project provided the NICHIAS R&D team with indicators of what needed to be improved in the use of AES fibers in cast products. NICHIAS FINEFLEX BIOTM Cast incorporated development of all three aspects listed above. Specifically, NICHIAS corrected the materials shrinkage where at 1100°C, the FINEFLEX BIOTM Cast has lower shrinkage rate than RCF. You can see more details in the technical product introduction linked below.
Furthermore, since AES fiber is to service the same industry as RCF, NICHIAS produced three different types to correspond with the varied application in industry.
FINEFLEX BIOTM Cast 400 – standard type, general use product
FINEFLEX BIOTM Cast 700 – high-density type
FINEFLEX BIOTM Cast 400P – aimed for pump construction
You can find more details on each product here. The full technical product introduction can be found here.
Of course, if you want to find out more about FINEFLEX BIOTM Cast, feel free to let us know via the form below, or email directly to info@nichias.eu.
