Ceramic wool is perfect for situations with direct exposure to flames.With regards to manufacturing operations it is commonly used in the power,Metallurgy and petrochemical industries.Ceramic wool is ideal for various insulation purposes.It is widely used as gaskets to hold or keep out high temperatures.It can also be used as packing materials for reducing friction.It has very high insulation properties and can withstand continuous high temperatures upto 1260c.Ceramic fiber is a very useful and versatile substance used for containing or controlling high temperatures.
Classification temperature 1260°C — furnace & kiln grade
Very low heat storage — faster heat-up, lower fuel cost
Ceramic fiber wool (ceramic fibre blanket) is the standard high-temperature insulation for furnaces, kilns, boilers and any lining that has to survive above the range where glass wool or rock wool give up. It is a needled blanket of spun alumino-silicate fibre — light, flexible, and able to be cut with a knife, yet stable at temperatures that would destroy almost any other flexible insulation.
Its real advantage over refractory brick is low heat storage. A brick lining absorbs an enormous amount of energy just getting itself up to temperature, and gives it back slowly on cool-down. Ceramic fibre blanket stores very little heat, so a furnace lined with it heats up faster, cools faster, and burns measurably less fuel over a cycle. On a furnace that is cycled regularly, this alone usually justifies the material.
An important distinction before you buy. Ceramic fibre is sold by its classification temperature — ours is 1260°C. That is a furnace test rating of the fibre, not a promise of continuous service at that temperature. The realistic continuous use limit for 1260-grade blanket is around 1100°C, with the classification figure representing short-term/peak capability. Suppliers routinely quote only the headline number; specifying a lining on it is how furnaces get under-insulated. Tell us your actual continuous operating temperature and we will confirm the right grade.
We supply ceramic fibre wool in 25 mm and 50 mm thicknesses. Use the Wool Quantity Calculator to work out how many rolls your area needs, and the Insulation Thickness Calculator to size the thickness for your operating temperature.
Specifications
Typical properties for 1260°C-classification alumino-silicate ceramic fibre blanket. Thermal conductivity rises sharply with temperature — the values below are given at several mean temperatures rather than as a single misleading figure.
Ceramic fibre blanket is made by melting alumina and silica and drawing the melt into fine fibres, either by spinning (the melt is flung off spinning wheels) or by blowing (a high-velocity air jet attenuates the stream). Spun fibre is generally longer and gives a stronger, more resilient blanket with less shot; blown fibre is finer. The fibres are then mechanically needled together into a blanket — physically interlocked, with no organic binder.
The absence of a binder matters in practice: there is nothing to burn out on first firing, so the lining does not smoke or lose strength on commissioning the way a binder-bonded product would.
Shot content is the quality figure to ask about. "Shot" is the un-fiberised material — small solid glass droplets that failed to draw into fibre. Shot has high thermal conductivity and zero tensile strength, so a high-shot blanket insulates worse and tears more easily. Premium blanket runs below 15% shot; cheap blanket can be considerably higher, which is exactly where the price difference comes from.
Roll Sizes & Coverage
Ceramic fibre wool is supplied in two thicknesses only. Both come on 610 mm-wide rolls — the 50 mm roll is half the length of the 25 mm roll, so both contain the same volume of material.
Thickness
Roll Width
Roll Length
Area per Roll
Typical Use
25 mm
610 mm
7200 mm
4.39 m²
Back-up layer, lighter duty, curved surfaces
50 mm
610 mm
3600 mm
2.20 m²
Main lining layer, higher temperature
For any thickness other than 25 mm or 50 mm, layers are stacked — e.g. 75 mm = 50 mm + 25 mm, with joints staggered between layers. Our Wool Quantity Calculator works out the roll count and layer arrangement for your area automatically.
Chemical Resistance
Ceramic fibre is chemically stable against most industrial media. It has three specific weaknesses worth knowing before you specify it.
Medium
Resistance
Notes
Steam & Hot Gases
Excellent
Standard furnace and flue duty
Most Acids
Good
Generally resistant — see exceptions below
Hydrocarbons / Oils
Excellent
Unaffected
Water
Good
Wetting temporarily reduces insulating value; dries out and recovers
Hydrofluoric Acid (HF)
Poor
Attacks the silica in the fibre — do not use
Phosphoric Acid
Poor
Attacks the fibre — do not use
Strong Alkalis / Caustic
Poor
Attacks the fibre — do not use
General guidance for the material family at normal industrial concentrations. See the full Chemical Compatibility Chart, and confirm your exact chemical, concentration and temperature with us before final selection.
Applications
Ceramic fibre wool goes wherever the temperature rules out glass wool or rock wool.
Furnace & Kiln LiningThe core application — hot-face and back-up lining for reheat furnaces, kilns and heat-treatment furnaces. Its low heat storage means faster heat-up and lower fuel burn on every cycle, which is where the real saving is.
Boiler InsulationBoiler casings, doors, headers and hot ducting where operating temperature is well above the ~250°C ceiling of glass wool.
Expansion Joints & Gap FillingPacking the gaps between refractory sections, around burner ports and at penetrations, where the blanket compresses to fill an irregular space without losing insulating value.
Back-Up Insulation Behind BrickFitted behind refractory brickwork to lower the shell temperature and cut heat loss through the furnace wall over the life of a campaign.
Pipe & Duct Insulation (High Temp)Hot process pipework, flue ducts and exhaust systems running too hot for conventional insulation. Flexible enough to wrap curved surfaces directly.
Heat Shields & Removable CoversCut and sewn into removable insulation jackets and heat shields for valves, flanges and equipment that needs periodic access.
Industries
Why Ceramic Fiber Wool is specified in each of the industries we serve.
Cement Plants
A cement kiln runs continuously at temperatures that eliminate almost every insulation material, and the preheater, cooler and kiln hood all carry significant heat loss if the lining is wrong. Ceramic fibre wool is used as back-up insulation behind the refractory brickwork and as lining in the preheater and hood, where its 1260°C classification gives real headroom over the ~600°C ceiling of rock wool and the ~250°C ceiling of glass wool. The economic argument in cement is mostly about shell temperature and fuel: a kiln with degraded or under-specified back-up insulation radiates heat continuously, and because a kiln campaign runs for months or years, that loss compounds enormously. Ceramic fibre’s low heat storage is a secondary benefit here, since the kiln runs continuously rather than cycling — the primary reason to fit it is simply that nothing cheaper survives the temperature.
Steel Mills & Foundries
Reheat furnaces, ladles, holding furnaces and induction furnace linings all operate in the range where ceramic fibre is the only flexible insulation that will survive. In a reheat furnace that is cycled — heated and cooled with the production schedule — ceramic fibre’s very low heat storage becomes the dominant advantage: unlike a brick lining, which must be dragged up to temperature from cold on every cycle, a fibre lining stores very little energy and lets the furnace reach working temperature far faster and with less fuel. Over a production campaign this is a substantial and directly measurable saving. For the hot-face in high-velocity gas zones, rigid Ceramic Board resists gas erosion better than blanket and is often used in combination with it.
Glass Manufacturing
Glass furnaces run some of the highest sustained temperatures in industry and, critically, run for years between rebuilds. That long campaign changes the economics completely: a small insulation deficiency does not just waste a little fuel, it wastes it continuously for the entire life of the furnace, and it cannot be corrected without a shutdown. Ceramic fibre wool is used to back up the refractory crown and walls, reducing shell temperature and heat loss for the duration of the campaign. Because the furnace is not cycled, low heat storage matters less here than raw thermal stability — what you are buying is insulation that will still be performing in five years. Getting the grade and thickness right at the point of the rebuild is therefore far more important in glass than in almost any other industry.
Power Plants
Boiler casings, superheater headers, hot ducting and flue gas paths all run above the range where conventional insulation is viable, and every uninsulated hot surface in a boiler house is both an energy loss and a personnel-safety hazard. Ceramic fibre wool handles these temperatures where glass wool cannot, and its flexibility means it can be wrapped directly onto curved headers and irregular ductwork rather than requiring fabricated sections. It is also widely used for removable insulation jackets on valves and flanges that need periodic access — a common weak point, since these are frequently left bare after maintenance and quietly bleed heat for months. For the lower-temperature parts of the plant (feedwater lines, general ducting below 250°C), Glass Wool is the more economical choice and ceramic fibre is unnecessary.
Ceramic Fiber vs Other Insulation
Choose on operating temperature. Ceramic fibre is the expensive answer to a high-temperature problem — do not pay for it below 600°C, where cheaper materials do the same job.
Property
Ceramic Fiber Wool
Glass Wool
Rock / Mineral Wool
Ceramic Board
Max Temperature
1260°C classification (~1100°C continuous)
~250°C
~600°C
1260°C
Min Temperature
Ambient
−195°C
Ambient
Ambient
Thermal Conductivity
0.10 – 0.31 W/m·K (rises with temp)
~0.035 W/m·K
~0.040 W/m·K
~0.09 W/m·K
Heat Storage
Very low
Low
Low
Low
Form
Flexible blanket
Flexible roll
Flexible / slab
Rigid board
Acoustic Value
Fair
Excellent
Excellent
Poor
Relative Cost
High
Low
Medium
High
Choose It For
Furnaces, kilns, >600°C
HVAC, cold storage, <250°C
Mid-range up to 600°C
Rigid hot-face, gas erosion
Advantages & Limitations
Advantages
Handles temperatures no flexible conventional insulation can approach — 1260°C classification.
Very low heat storage — faster furnace heat-up and cool-down, and directly lower fuel consumption on cycling furnaces.
Lightweight and flexible: wraps curved surfaces and cuts with a knife, with no fabrication needed.
Contains no organic binder, so there is no burn-out smoke or strength loss on first firing.
Non-combustible.
Excellent thermal shock resistance — it does not spall or crack under rapid temperature change the way brick can.
Far lighter than refractory brick, reducing the structural load on the furnace shell.
Limitations
Classification temperature is not continuous use temperature. 1260°C is the fibre classification; realistic continuous service for that grade is around 1100°C. Do not specify a lining from the headline figure.
Thermal conductivity rises sharply with temperature — roughly tripling between 400°C and 1000°C. A single "k value" quoted at low temperature is misleading for furnace design.
Attacked by hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid and strong alkalis.
Low mechanical strength — it is a soft blanket and will not resist abrasion or high-velocity gas erosion. Use rigid Ceramic Board for the hot face in those zones.
Fibre is a respiratory hazard when cut or disturbed, particularly after service (post-use crystalline silica). Gloves, eye protection and a proper dust mask are required.
Significantly more expensive than glass wool or rock wool — only justified above their temperature limits.
Poor acoustic performance compared with glass wool.
Installation, Storage & Maintenance
Installation
Fit multiple thinner layers with staggered joints rather than one thick layer with a straight-through seam — a straight seam is a direct heat path through the lining. Compress the blanket slightly (typically 10–20%) against the anchors rather than stretching it flat; stretched blanket loses density and therefore insulating value exactly where it was pulled thinnest. Use ceramic or high-temperature metal anchors welded to the shell, at the spacing appropriate to the furnace size. Fill gaps at penetrations and burner ports with Ceramic Paper. See our full installation guide.
Storage
Store rolls dry, in their original wrapping, off the floor and out of the weather. Ceramic fibre is not damaged by getting wet — it dries out and recovers its insulating value — but wet blanket is heavy, awkward to handle and will not insulate until it has dried. Keep it clean; grit and dirt worked into the blanket reduce its performance.
Maintenance
Inspect the lining at every scheduled shutdown, not only when it visibly fails. Blanket that still looks intact can have lost density from gas erosion, vibration or repeated cycling, and a lining that has thinned or slumped is quietly costing fuel long before it is obviously broken. Take fibre precautions during inspection and removal — after service, ceramic fibre can contain crystalline silica, and disturbing an old lining is the highest-exposure task in its life cycle.
Buying Guide
What to tell us so we quote the right grade first time.
Your CONTINUOUS operating temperature. Not the peak, and not the classification figure you saw on a datasheet. This is the number that determines the grade you actually need.
Thickness and area to cover. We supply 25 mm and 50 mm; anything else is built up in layers. The Wool Quantity Calculator turns your area into a roll count.
Density: 96 or 128 kg/m³? Higher density insulates better at high temperature and resists gas erosion better, but costs more and is heavier. 128 kg/m³ is the usual choice for hot-face duty.
Hot face or back-up layer? Blanket is fine for back-up and for most hot faces, but in high-velocity gas zones it erodes — rigid Ceramic Board is the right answer there.
Any HF, phosphoric acid or strong alkali present? These attack the fibre. Tell us, because ceramic fibre is the wrong material for that environment.
Cycling or continuous furnace? If the furnace is cycled, the low-heat-storage fuel saving is a major part of the value case and worth quantifying. If it runs continuously, you are buying thermal stability instead.
Standards & Compliance
Classification temperature 1260°C — the standard grade designation for alumino-silicate refractory ceramic fibre.
ASTM C201 — thermal conductivity of refractories.
ASTM C892 — standard specification for high-temperature fibre blanket insulation.
Shot content below 15% for premium grade — ask for the shot figure when comparing quotes, as it is the main hidden quality variable.
Health note: refractory ceramic fibre requires appropriate handling controls. Use gloves, eye protection and a suitable dust mask when cutting, fitting or (especially) removing used lining.
Its classification temperature is 1260°C, but that is a fibre test rating, not a continuous service promise. Realistic continuous use for 1260-grade blanket is around 1100°C. Always specify from your actual continuous operating temperature.
What is the difference between classification and continuous use temperature?
Classification temperature is a standardised furnace test rating of the fibre. Continuous use temperature is what the blanket will actually tolerate day in, day out — typically a few hundred degrees lower. Many suppliers quote only the classification figure, which is how linings end up under-specified.
What thicknesses do you supply?
25 mm and 50 mm only. Any other thickness is built up by layering — e.g. 75 mm = 50 + 25, with joints staggered between the layers.
What are the roll sizes?
25 mm blanket comes as 610 mm wide × 7200 mm long (4.39 m²). 50 mm comes as 610 mm wide × 3600 mm long (2.20 m²). Both rolls contain the same volume of fibre.
How many rolls do I need?
Use our Wool Quantity Calculator — enter your area, required thickness and layer count and it returns the roll count and weight.
What density should I choose — 96 or 128 kg/m³?
128 kg/m³ insulates better at high temperature and resists gas erosion better; it is the usual choice for hot-face duty. 96 kg/m³ is lighter and cheaper and is fine for back-up layers and lower-duty work.
What is "shot content" and why does it matter?
Shot is un-fiberised material — small solid glass droplets that failed to draw into fibre during manufacture. It has high thermal conductivity and zero tensile strength, so a high-shot blanket insulates worse and tears more easily. Premium blanket is below 15% shot. It is the single biggest hidden quality difference between a cheap and an expensive blanket.
Why is ceramic fiber better than refractory brick?
Low heat storage. Brick absorbs an enormous amount of energy just heating itself up and releases it slowly. Fibre stores very little, so a furnace heats and cools far faster and burns less fuel per cycle. Fibre is also much lighter, reducing structural load, and it resists thermal shock without spalling.
Does thermal conductivity change with temperature?
Yes, dramatically — roughly tripling between 400°C and 1000°C (about 0.10 to 0.31 W/m·K). This is why a single "k value" quoted at low temperature is misleading for furnace design, and why we publish it at several temperatures.
Which chemicals attack ceramic fiber?
Hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid and strong alkalis all attack the fibre. It is otherwise stable against most acids, hydrocarbons and steam. If any of those three are present, ceramic fibre is the wrong material.
Is ceramic fiber safe to handle?
It requires precautions. Cutting or disturbing it releases airborne fibre, and after service ceramic fibre can contain crystalline silica — so removing an old lining is the highest-exposure task. Always use gloves, eye protection and a proper dust mask, and ventilate the area.
Does it contain a binder?
No. It is mechanically needled, not binder-bonded. That is an advantage: there is nothing to burn out on first firing, so no smoke and no strength loss on commissioning.
Can ceramic fiber blanket get wet?
Getting wet does not permanently damage it — it dries out and recovers its insulating value. But wet blanket is heavy, awkward and insulates poorly until dry, so store it dry and covered.
Ceramic fiber or ceramic board — which do I need?
Blanket is flexible, cheaper, and fine for back-up insulation and most hot faces. Board is rigid and resists gas erosion and mechanical abuse far better — use it for the hot face in high-velocity gas zones. They are frequently used together: board hot face, blanket behind.
Can I use ceramic fiber instead of glass wool?
You can, but you would be wasting money. Below about 250°C, glass wool does the same job at a fraction of the cost and insulates better per millimetre. Ceramic fibre is the answer to a high-temperature problem, not a general-purpose upgrade.
How should the blanket be installed?
Multiple thinner layers with staggered joints, compressed slightly (10–20%) against anchors rather than stretched. A straight-through seam is a direct heat path. Full details in our installation guide.
Why should the blanket be compressed and not stretched?
Stretching thins the blanket and drops its density exactly where it is thinnest, which is precisely where you lose the most heat. A slight compression against the anchors keeps density uniform.
How long does a ceramic fiber lining last?
It depends entirely on temperature, gas velocity, cycling and chemical exposure. The important point is that it degrades invisibly — blanket that still looks intact can have lost density and be costing you fuel. Inspect at every shutdown rather than waiting for visible failure.
Is it non-combustible?
Yes. Ceramic fibre is non-combustible and will not burn or support a flame.
Can I use it for acoustic insulation?
It has some acoustic value but it is poor compared with glass wool, which is far better and far cheaper for sound absorption. Use glass wool if noise is the problem.
Need a quote or a spec check?
Send us your operating conditions and we will confirm the right grade for the job.
