Mineral wool
[2] A method of making mineral wool was patented in the United States in 1870 by John Player[3] and first produced commercially in 1871 at Georgsmarienhütte in Osnabrück Germany.
Products made from AES wool are generally used in equipment that continuously operates and in domestic appliances.
Some formulations of AES wool are bio-soluble, meaning they dissolve in bodily fluids within a few weeks and are quickly cleared from the lungs.
[citation needed] Polycrystalline wool consists of fibers that contain aluminum oxide (Al2O3) at greater than 70 percent of the total materials and is produced by sol–gel method from aqueous spinning solutions.
[8] Stone wool is a furnace product of molten rock at a temperature of about 1600 °C through which a stream of air or steam is blown.
Though the individual fibers conduct heat very well, when pressed into rolls and sheets, their ability to partition air makes them excellent insulators and sound absorbers.
[12]: 16 Conditioning methods include pre-soaking mineral wool in a nutrient solution adjusted to pH 5.5 until it stops bubbling.
High-temperature mineral wool is used primarily for insulation and lining of industrial furnaces and foundries to improve efficiency and safety.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed the carcinogenicity of man-made mineral fibers in October 2002.
IARC elected not to make an overall evaluation of the newly developed fibers designed to be less bio persistent such as the alkaline earth silicate or high-alumina, low-silica wools.
This decision was made in part because no human data were available, although such fibers that have been tested appear to have low carcinogenic potential in experimental animals, and because the Working Group had difficulty in categorizing these fibers into meaningful groups based on chemical composition.
Due to the mechanical effect of fibers, mineral wool products may cause temporary skin itching.
[15] Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation of 18 December 2006.
REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment.
Regardless of the concerns raised, the inclusion of a substance in the candidate list triggers immediately the following legal obligations of manufacturers, importers and suppliers of articles containing that substance in a concentration above 0.1% (w/w): Amorphous high-temperature mineral wool (AES and ASW) is produced from a molten glass stream which is aerosolized by a jet of high-pressure air or by letting the stream impinge onto spinning wheels.
Depending on the chemical composition of the glassy fiber and the time and temperature to which the materials are exposed, different stable crystalline phases may form.
