Document zoNVazDmqRy67bVmg4zNEoX77

REFRASIL APPLICATION Refractory silica in textile form BULLETIN R-1 INSULATION o REFRASIL tape curtains on brazing furnace save up to 1/3 on natural gas requirements Photo ot the silver brazing lurnace at Aeronutronic Ford Corporation in Connersville, Indiana, shows automotive parts exiling. The REFRASIL tape curtains pertorm in temperatures ot 1400-2000' F. By installing twin REFRASIL tape curtains at entrance and exit ends of three Sunbeam brazing furnaces, Aeronutronic Ford Corporation's Refrigeration Products Division reduced total natural gas requirements tor the furnaces approximately one-third. The cunains serve both as a combustion chamber 10 burn off escaping gases and as a barrier to furlher escaping gases. Each curtain is made of six double rows of 17-inch-long, 1-inch-wide REFRASIL tape material. The REFRASIL tape curtains used by Aeronutronic Ford perform in a temperature estimated lo be 1400-2000' F. In this application, the curtains last an average of one week. "That is a good service life," Howard Bowers, Main tenance General Foreman for the Connersville plant, says. "It's the best product for the application we could find and we've evaluated a number of other materials. Asbestos curtains, for example, have been tried, but they soon burn lo a powder. This then flakes on the pans going through the line, contaminating them. Service life for asbestos curtains is two days. We also tried a glass fiber filament tape, but it too would flake and contaminate the products going through the line. Its service life was less than one 8-hour shift. A metal foil tape was tried, but it rapidly de teriorated in the high temperatures it was exposed to." The brazing lines at Aeronutronic Ford are used in subassemblies of automotive air-conditioning components. The hydrogen-copper brazing line, for example, ireats accumulators, receiver/dryers, and hose fittings. Another lurnace is used for nitrogen vacuum brazing of evapora tors. The furnaces run 24 hours a day. "The natural gas savings are very significant to us." Bowers says. "We found ihe REFRASIL lape was a tittle more expensive than asbestos end filament tape, but its added service life coupled with the natural gas savings make it very attractive to us." REFRASIL textile is Bn amorphous silica in a continuous filament fiber. It stands up in continuous use at icmperatures to 1800'F with little or no change in properties and will not melt or vaporize until temperatures exceed 3100 F. REFRASIL products are available as fabric, yarn, cordage, bulk liber, sleeving and ball. For information, write HITCO, 1600 W. 135th St.. Gardena, California 90249. Telephone (213) 321-8080. REPRASll Armco ano thneAartmmcofktrioarnHgIlTeCtO. traoemarkt o> Armco Steel Corporation Miodietown, Ohio LKT/MD475 (R*|>r. of IHT/MD-274) 5M CP 6-75 ARMCO V lltho In U.S.A. PRODUCED BY FORD 8005 1700