An industrial setting cannot afford to suffer the consequences from the outbreak of a fire. So much is put at risk by not having fire safety measures in place to mitigate its effects. Employees could be harmed, equipment could be damaged, and legal issues could be imminent. Various fire safety measures can introduce fire safety into an industrial setting, but there’s one in particular we’d like to emphasize: vermiculite coatings. These coatings can be added to substrates like fiberglass to enhance their fire resistance and thermal insulation. Such substrates that contain vermiculite coatings can be found at Mid-Mountain Materials Inc, including as our ARMATEX® Firestar Fabrics and Tapes, where their coatings help better their thermal insulative attributes.

Explaining Vermiculite Coatings

What is Vermiculite?

Vermiculite is a mineral that’s located within the phyllosilicate group. It contains a layered crystalline structure that allows it to hold water. This is what helps it to expand, or exfoliate, as it undergoes heating, possessing the ability to grow up to 30 times its volume. Once it expands, vermiculite becomes an extremely porous and lightweight material.

What is a Vermiculite Coating?

Vermiculite coatings are utilized as a form of passive fire protection, shielding the surfaces of certain materials, like steel. As the coating possesses vermiculite, this mineral is able to expand when heat occurs. Therefore, it can establish an insulating barrier that’s able to reduce the speed of the heat transfer. This means it can be used to protect materials against high temperatures.

When a vermiculite coating is added to a substrate, it’s usually done through spraying, rolling, dipping, or troweling, placed as several thin layers that establish a well-balanced coverage and deliver the right fire resistance rating and thickness. A substrate that has a vermiculite coating can be utilized in a variety of items, including in pipe and duct wrapping, insulation jackets and covers, and furnace door seals.

These types of coated substrates are extremely helpful as they can provide outstanding fire protection thanks to the vermiculite’s attributes and its interactions with higher temperatures. The vermiculite contains several properties that add to the coated fabric’s ability to offer fire protection, like low thermal conductivity, stability when encountering fire, heat expansion, and non-combustibility. Therefore, it can be utilized in:

  • Fiberglass components: Ensures lightweight materials applied to industrial environments and construction have fire resistance.
  • Fire Partitions and Doors: Improves their fire resistance so they can reduce the speed of the spread of a fire.
  • Steel Structures: Helps steel beams and columns avoid weakening in the event of a fire.

How Are Vermiculite Coatings Able To Offer Protection Against Fire?

Vermiculite coatings offer a useful set of properties that contribute to its protective capabilities to counter fire. Firstly, there’s the vermiculite’s capacity to keep hold of moisture. So, if a fire takes place, the moisture it has will end up becoming steam. This can help cool the substrate, slowing down how long it takes for the temperature to rise. Additionally, vermiculite can expand under heat. Thus, it can produce an insulating layer which can be used to reduce the speed of a heat transfer.

Enhancing Fire Safety With Vermiculite Coatings

1. Defending Equipment

As vermiculite coatings can offer thermal insulation, they tend to be utilized with industrial equipment. When the vermiculite experiences heat, it can expand and generate an insulating layer, one that can decrease the rate of a heat transfer. If a vermiculite coating is applied to equipment, the coating can protect the apparatus from increased temperatures, ensuring machinery continues to work with safe operational temperatures and lowering the chance of overheating.

2. Protecting Personnel and Operators

Time is of the essence when a fire occurs. It’s critical to give personnel the time to get to safety and away from the blaze. Vermiculite coatings can help with this. The coatings can be used to ensure a barrier is in place that can slow down how fast structural elements and equipment change to a high temperature. Essentially, they produce a delay that can help operators to have more time for evacuation should a fire emerge.

Furthermore, vermiculite coatings can lower the chance of personnel experiencing heat-related injuries or burns. This is because they can stop the surfaces of equipment from turning extremely hot, which could make them a hazard if someone touches them.

3. Emergency Shutdowns

Vermiculite coatings can establish a buffer that ensures there’s more time to turn machinery off should a fire appear. This also means that various procedures can be stopped before the apparatus becomes compromised. Through generating a delay, a chance arises to stop any explosions that may occur in locations of high-risk.

Where Can I Find Vermiculite-Coated Substrates?

We, Mid-Mountain Materials Inc, have our ARMATEX® Firestar Fabrics and Tapes available which incorporate a fiberglass substrate that includes a vermiculite coating. The benefits of this coated substrate are tenfold. Not only can the addition of the vermiculite coating enhance the fabric’s insulating attributes, but its combination with the fiberglass substrate can improve the tapes’ and fabrics’ ability to withstand:

  • Flame impingement
  • Molten splash
  • Burn through
  • Sparks.

It’s important to take your fire safety seriously and implement measures, like vermiculite-coated substrates, that offer the protection needed in the event of a fire. If you’re interested in our own vermiculite-coated substrates, look through our ARMATEX® Firestar tapes and fabrics to get started. Let’s see if they’re the right fire safety measure for you.