Savextherm range of microporous insulation boards and panels is helping manufacturers of steel, aluminium, ceramic and glass products maximise their operating efficiencies. Microporous insulation has been successfully used in Europe and Americas for years in a variety of applications and now it is being widely used in an increasing number of similar applications in India as well. Because of the insulations extremely low thermal conductivity (lower than that of still air at high temperatures) it offers significant energy and space savings compared to many traditional refractory insulating materials. By virtue of its extremely low thermal conductivity it enables users to save more space, reduce more weight and significantly reduce energy consumption besides providing a high level of thermal stability, consistent operating temperatures and easy fabrication. Although the price of this microporous insulation maybe slightly higher than conventional ceramic and glass fibres or mineral wool, the savings in energy, space, cost and weight do strongly justify the added cost over the long run.

Savextherm range of most advanced microporous insulation boards and panels which are made up of silicone carbide, fumed silica and calcium silicate is capable of withstanding temperatures of upto 1050 Deg C. It is today considered the best thermal insulation in the world which helps reduce heat loss besides causing enormous savings in cost and energy in these competitive times when cost reduction is the primary motive of any manufacturer.

Some of the specific application areas include:

• Metal melting industry for such applications as the thermal insulation of ladles, torpedo ladles, tundishes, aluminium launders and aluminium melting and holding furnaces
• Gas pipelines of major DRI plants
• Holding furnaces, feeder bowls etc of glass plants
• Coal, oil and gas fired power stations
• Thermal batteries
• Induction furnaces
• Blast furnace of steel plants
• Domestic appliances
• Laboratory equipments
• Marine
• Any many other areas

• Reduce the temperature of the molten metal that is poured into the ladle or tundish as the heat loss in the ladle is considerably reduced thus saving on the cost of heating the metal originally.
• Heat loss and energy cost is reduced by almost 45%
• With thinner microporous insulation lining better thermal insulation is achieved compared to the conventional insulating materials such as ceramic blankets etc. For instance the thermal conductivity of ceramic blanket is about 0.09 W/m.K whereas that of our microporous insulation board is 0.028 W/m.K at 500 Deg C which means that our material is about 350 times better at heat insulation!! Moreover with thinner microporous insulation lining not only are we getting better thermal insulation but also allowing more molten metal to be poured into the same ladle or tundish thus further reducing cost, increasing capacity and most importantly, the output.
• With better thermal insulation the life of the ladle is enhanced as it is less damaged by high temperatures.

Any good thermal insulator must necessarily have a low thermal conductivity at high temperatures which limits the physical process of heat transfer thereby containing the heat source. Of all conventional and contemporary thermal insulating materials available in the market today microporous insulation materials have proven to be the most efficient. Its thermal conductivity over a wide range of temperatures is extremely low which is theoretically lower than that of still air at high temperatures. They are the most preferred choice where a large temperature reduction is required within a limited space.

According to simple laws of physics and the dynamics of heat transfer the effectiveness of a material as a thermal insulator entirely depends on its thermal conductivity. This is where our superior range of microporous insulation materials acts as good high temperature insulation. Its thermal conductivity stays extremely low over a wide range of temperatures i.e. from 0.021 W/m.K at ambient temperatures to just 0.034 W/m.K at a mean temperature of 800 Deg C.

The basic science behind microporous insulation is that it significantly reduces the passage of heat energy by minimising three modes of heat transfer: convection, conduction and radiation.

Convection is minimized by the microscopic voids that the ceramic particles and fibres form. These voids are smaller than the path necessary for air molecules to travel effectively and as a result do not allow air molecules to carry heat easily through the material.

Conduction is minimized by limited particle to particle contact of the various components of microporous formulation. Although the particles are close enough to form voids that minimize air convection they are also far enough from one another to minimize the solid conduction of heat energy.

Radiation is minimized through the use of a second base ingredient which is a thermally stable opacifier which are designed to reflect, retract and re-radiate radiation energy and prevent it from travelling easily through the microporous material. They block the heat transfer due to radiation. By comparing the superior performance of our microporous insulation products with plain silica at high temperatures the effect of the opacifier can be clearly seen.