Microporous Insulation

Microporous insulation is a solid made from fumed (pyrogenic) silica with infrared opacifiers and reinforcing fibre, engineered so its pores are smaller than the mean free path of air molecules. This suppresses heat transfer by gas conduction, giving the lowest thermal conductivity of any solid insulation, around 0.020–0.030 W/m·K.

Its thermal conductivity is roughly three to five times lower, so a much thinner panel achieves the same insulation. That makes it ideal where space is tight, ladle and tundish back-up, or shells where you must cut surface temperature without adding thickness. It costs more per unit, but the thickness and energy savings often justify it.

Standard microporous boards and panels are rated to about 1000°C. Because it is a back-up insulation, it always sits behind the dense or ceramic-fibre hot-face lining, never in direct flame or molten-metal contact. Within that role it dramatically reduces shell temperature and heat loss.

Typical applications are steel ladle and tundish back-up insulation, furnace back-up lining in space-constrained shells, foundry and investment casting, kiln car insulation, and heat shields on high-temperature process equipment. It is also used in energy-storage and battery thermal-barrier applications.

Yes. Shanker Agencies supplies microporous insulation panels and boards for ladle, tundish and furnace back-up applications, with a heat-loss calculation to size the layer correctly for your shell-temperature and space targets.