Glass wool

Glass wool is similar to steel wool. It is simply very thin strings of glass arranged into a spongy texture. Glass wool is used widely as an insulating material.

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Manufacturing process

After the fusion of a mixture of natural sand and recycled glass at 1,450 °C, the glass that is produced is converted into fibers. The cohesion and mechanical strength of the product is obtained by the presence of a binder that “cements” the fibers together. Ideally, a drop of bonder is placed at each fiber intersection. This fiber mat is then heated to around 200 °C (to polymerize the resin), and is calendered to give it strength and stability. The final stage involves cutting the wool and packing it in rolls or panels under very high pressure before palletizing the finished product in order to facilitate transport and storage.

Thanks to its intertwined flexible fibers, glass wool offers excellent fire-resistant properties, as a thermal insulation material (for example in loft of wall cavity insulation) and is also widely used as an absorbent material in acoustic treatments such as sound insulation, absorbent ceiling tiles. Its light weight, flexibility and elasticity make it easy to install, which is another essential condition for effective insulation. Glass wool is an excellent heat insulator.It can be woven into a cloth which has the additional properties of being light,strong,water-proof and corrosion free.

References

Section 5.5 of Man-made Vitreous Fibres. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Vol. 81, (2002), 418 pages.