Document QJY90qGjBxX8jz0b4xaa8YrNE

FILE NAME: Railroads (RR) DATE: 1979 Jan 15 DOC#: RR059 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter to DuPont Magazine Requesting Samples of W.S. Libbey Co.'s High Temp Insulation Tapes WITri/ r.\5 i J a n u a r y 15, 197S 1 7 . 4S Gone al W. S. Libbey Company "DuPont Magazine" Offer I'Mill Street Lewiston, IE 04240 ' Gentleaen; . I would ap p reciate your sending ce samples of W. S. L i b b e y C om pa ny' s h i g h t e m p e r a t u r e i n s u l a t i o n t a p e s ' and c l o t h of 100 p e r c e n t "Ncmex" c ra m id ; a l s o a d e s c r i p t i v e f o l d e r l i s t i n g p r o p e r t i e s , ASTM t e s t d a t a and a v a i l a b l e p u t u p s . An a r t i c l e d e s c r i b i n g t h e s e t a p e s and c l o t h ap p e are d i n a r e c e n t i s s u e o f "DuPont M a g a z i n e . 1' Very t r u l y 'years, W. M ^ H a r r i s o n Chief of Environmental Engineering % made of '*Nomex" aramid fiber offer industry an important new Shipbuilding is largest potential market for Libbey tapes and cloth of " Nomex'' aramid fiber. Insula* tion properties are excellent and installers find that it's easy to apply the tapes and cloth to the pipes. Lcw isioti. M aine For most of its 75 years, W. S. Libbey Company was a family-owned, old-line blanket mill in this typical New England mill town. Its wares reflected the tastes of its times, from Indian blankets and blankets bearing college or fraternity symbols to coverings for electric blan kets. Then, about five years ago, follow ing a fire that destroyed part of the mill, a major replacement and modernization of machinery, and the acquisition of a new management team,.Libbey found a new opportunity and a new challenge. A key factor in the mill's change of direction is "Nomex'' aramid, Du Font's hiyh-lcmpcraturc-rcsisbmt fiber. Intro duced commercially in 1963, "Nomex" has proved its flame and heat resistance worldwide in a variety of industrial and specialty applications--from- protective clothing to niter bags. About two years ago, W. S. Libbey Co. decided to develop a line of-hightem perature-resistant specialty, prod ucts, made with "Nomex",.for industrialmarkets. "O ur initial commitment was based or. the properties of\Nomex'," says H ersc'nel Sternlieb, vice president, mar keting and sales, for Libbey. "Then we realized that current concern over the health hazards inherent in asbestos gave us an opportunity to respond to an impor tan t industrial need for a safer insulation product. Our milt equipmerit is modern, and unusual--extremely' well-suited to the processing of 'Nomex'. And, being a small mill, we can work with our custom ers to meet their special needs." The sense of smallness is lost-on the visitor who climbs five long flights of stairs and views huge rooms filled with textile machinery and some 250 employ ees turning out Libbey products. "We know the capability of every piece of equipm ent in the mill and how to get the best out of each," says Sternlieb. "We really fee! 'Nomex' and Libbey were made for each other." Currently, Libbey's single largest mar ket for products of "Nomex" is in hot air filtration fabrics used in industrial bag houses to prevent pollution. However, Sternlieb and marketing manager Bill Graham feel that the company's future .lies in its thermal insulating tapes and cloths as replacements for asbestos in industrial pipe and duct applications. "The health hazards posed by asbestos have created a need for a safe and effec tive substitute," Graham explains. "We . U -j* ' i W - ?el that our tapes and cloth made of 100 . ercent 'Nomex' provide the best answer >this need. They perform well at temper a re s up to 600F (316C) and have excel:nt chemical, m echanical and abrasion isistance. They're lightweight and easy ) apply over bare pipe or solid thermal isulation, even around odd shapes." Among industrial users of Libbey tape ad cloth of "Nomex" is W estinghouse lectric Corporation's Large Motor Divion in Buffalo, N.Y., w here DC motors ad generators ranging from one horseawer to 1,500 hp (0.75 to 1,119 kilowatts) re made. Until about three years ago, oven asbestos was used to provide elecical insulation in the construction of eld cores and arm atures for DC m a tines. "A corpprate program was arted in .1976 to phase out our use of jbestos because of the health hazard to nployees," says m aterials engineer ene Barry. 'Since there were at least 11 major appliitions where we had been using asbesis--each with different requirem ents-- e had to evaluate a large variety of iaterials as replacements," he contines. "As a result, we've eliminated about 1 percent of our asbestos applications id will get rid of the rest as soon as we in. R ight now, w e're trying to get 1S1LA (Mine Safety and Health Adminisation, U.S.Dept. of Labor) to change its 3ccificatioris to perm it the use of fomex' instead of asbestos." Barry feels there's no such thing as a niversal insulator. "T he Libbey tapes and cloth of 'Nomex' are good, very good; easy to use and reliable. But fiber grfss is good, too, for certain jobs. We use both materials, individually and in combina tion, depending on the equipm ent in which they'll be used and the environ ment in which they'll operate." Bill Cassada, industrial forem an-at G eneral Electric C om pany's service shop in St. Louis, Mo., also has found "Nom ex" to be an excellent replacem ent for hazardous asbestos. In this repair facil ity for heavy industrial equip m en t-su ch as motors, trans formers and generators-- brazing and tungsten inert gas welding are common, repair practices.' "In replacing a pole face bar on a DC motor or generator, for example," Cassada says, "we want to keep the molten metal from getting on the insulators. So we cover the insulators with Libbey's tape made of 'Nomex'. r - ~ We also use the tape on larger armatures between the risers on a large commutator where fit's welded to the conductor to j keep excessive heat from going back into the windings. We pre- i viously tried heavy cotton stay- - ; binding and fiber glass fabrics: as heat guards in these applica-: --------tions, but the cotton burned and the bind ers in the fiber glass broke down. 'Nomex' does the job. We're exploring other ways of using it in the few applications where we haven't yet found an adequate replace ment for asbestos. We recently started using Libbey's welding . blankets. T h ey 're made of a double layer of 'Nomex' with aluminum foil in between, and used to hold slag and prevent roll-off that might harm people and machinery." Libbey's Sternlieb sees the biggest po tential market, and the'greatest markting challenge, for his company's prod ucts in the shipbuilding industry. "The advantages of 'Nomex' over fiber glass Installers of lagging cloth on pipes and fittings prefer Libbey tapes and cloth of "Noir.ex" because they handle like canvas and can be tom to fit, svhich they find is faster and easier than using scissors. : .: , s- V.-.: y::;-.v:. n. . , , z ' > - , - M b' - ;; ' .1 i V 1 * *... 1" -;L, 'L* zL".*' seem obvious to u s ,- h e says candidly. "But we're caught between shipyards saying they can 't use our products until the Navy specifies them, and the Navy saying they can't change the specs until shipbuilders complain about the way they're written. We hope that evalua tions now being made by a num ber of shipyards will result in the specs being altered to perm it the use of 'Nomex'. It would be in everyone's best interests." Belter Than Fiber Class 'Warren K. Watters, manager of ReillyBenton Co., New Orleans, agrees. His company distributes insulation materi als to the m arine and industrial markets and operates a contract installation de partment to serve them. "Since the Navy virtually-banned the use of asbestos in shipbuilding, fiber glass has become widely used. But it has limitations which make it less than the best substitute. It abrades, and when it's painted over, it loses flexibility, becomes brittle and cracks readily. Those things don't hap pen with `Nomex'." Libbcy tapes and cloth made of "Nomex" are easier for installers to work with', Watters.adds. "Most veteran install-, ers like to use an 8-ounce (227-gram) can vas for lagging-covering pipes and fit tings. And they like lagging cloth made of 'Nomex' because it looks and handles .like canvas. They even can tear it like canvas, which is faster than using scis sors. And Libbey tape is easier to apply, especially around odd-shaped bends and joints because--unlike fiber glass--it's stretchable. It also has more loft, or bulk, which increases insulating value." About95 percent of shipbuilding insu lation requirem ents can be met by "Nomex", according to Libbey's Sternlieb. "I find it inconceivable that the Navy won't rewrite specifications to per mit its use," he says. "So do shipbuilders who have evaluated our.tapes and cloth. Sure, `Nom ex' costs more than fiber glass, but it delivers greater value." Libbey m arketing manager Bill G ra ham reports that shipbuilders he has vis ited recently show a growing desire to have the specifications changed. "Many of them flatly state that fiber glass isn't work'ingout well for them," he says. "Be cause of the difficulties of working with it, some shipyards-have to pay .union workers an additional 45 cents an hour.' That's a heavy premium; it more than offsets the higher cost'of 'Nomex'. All in all, it's becoming evident that many ship yards are looking for a. better.alterna tive--and we're betting that they will find it in 'Nomex'." If Graham is right, Libbey's commit ment to "Nomex", should pay off handsomcly. In slightly more than a year, the company's use of "Nomex" in insulation products has increased at the rate of 30 percent each month. Says Hersch Sternlieb: "For those products alone.we forecast sales to top $100,000 a mqnth in the coming year. And for a small textile mill, that's not bad." For. samples of W. S. Libbey Compa ny's high-temperature insulation tapes and cloth of 100 percent "Nomex" aramid, plus a descriptive folder listing proper ties, ASTM test data and available putups, write on letterhead stationery to: Du Pont Magazine O f f e r , W. S. Libbey Co., Mill St., Lewiston, ME 04240. Q . -J ' . ' A :__ - it \..v \ . \ i i ] \ Libbey also makes welding blankets; using a double layer of " Nomex" with aluminum foil in betw een, as a substitute for asbestos to hold slag and prevent roll-off that might harm both people and machinery.