A vital component of our work as an insulation solutions provider is to help our customers innovate. As technologies in many industries change rapidly to uncover new capabilities, it’s essential that the new risks and challenges are assessed, particularly when it comes to insulation and deciding on which material or combination of materials will help to achieve the desired – and required – results. We are consistently working closely with customer and partner research and development (R&D) teams in order to help them navigate changing requirements and emerging innovations to help them make a better, safer and more efficient product.…
Thermal runaway is a significant risk present in batteries. It occurs due to a battery cell failure of some kind, occasionally as simple as the separator between the anode and the electrolyte breaking down. This generates an increase in temperature, creating a chain reaction in which more energy is released, causing the electrolyte to break down into flammable gasses. Once the separator melts, the cathode of the battery breaks down further fuelling the fire with oxygen, triggering an uncontrolled positive feedback loop, often leading to a destructive result. The risk of thermal runaway begins at 60°C and becomes extremely critical at 100°C. Once the process has begun, temperatures rise rapidly within milliseconds – creating temperatures of around 400°C. It is particularly prevalent in lithium-ion batteries. …
In our previous blog post, we examined in detail five thermal insulation materials and their physical and thermal properties. In this post, we’re going to get into official classifications for thermal insulation materials, their importance when it comes to selecting the right type of insulation and the applications of the materials in each classification.
Capacitors have an important role and function in a wide variety of applications. They are devices for storing electrical energy – preventing damage, information loss and filtering out unwanted frequencies. They are used in everything from microelectronic circuits to massive power systems.
An important feature of most capacitors is their dielectric component. Most capacitors have a dielectric spacer – a sheet of dielectric material between the two conducting plates, increasing its capacitance and improving the stability of the system. …
High temperature insulation is vital in many manufacturing applications such as continuous processing, where operating temperatures should be controlled to achieve maximum efficiency and consistency, and foundry and steel, where effective thermal insulation can help to extend the life of equipment and provide additional safety measures. …
When it comes to selecting the right insulation solution for an electrical application, it’s important to understand the dielectric capabilities and properties of the material or materials being used.
A dielectric material is one which is a poor conductor of electricity, but can support electrostatic fields. This means that if the material is exposed to an external electric field, the substance becomes polarized. This allows it to store electric charge, making it a poor conductor, but a good storage medium. …
At Elmelin, we have been working with mica as our chosen insulation solution for over 100 years. For us, the benefits of using mica as an insulator are very clear. But obviously, it’s not the only material out there with thermal and electrical insulative properties that is widely used for industrial insulation applications.
With that in mind, we’re going to compare mica-based insulation with 3 other common insulation materials in order to give you a clear view of its performance against the alternatives. …
Over the last few years, Elmelin have continually invested in developing our CNC milling capabilities, investing in a CNC milling machine and the subsequent training, skills development, software and additional resources required to support the complex and detailed machining of our mica insulation solutions.…
Maintaining the right level of insulation resistance is vital in many industries which use machinery that operates at high voltages. A whole host of external factors can have an effect on the performance of insulation – general wear and tear, equipment damage, moisture, corrosive vapours, and of course – prolonged exposure to extremely high temperatures. From a design perspective, it’s very important that you understand the requirements of your high voltage application, the most important insulation material resistance of course being electrical resistance. However, in these applications, temperature and fire rating also have an important role to play. …
As you’re no doubt aware – insulation can be made of a whole host of other materials – fibreglass, cellulose, mineral wool. That being said, mica has very unique properties that make it an excellent choice as a basis for insulation in a range of industrial applications.
Here we’re going to look at a particular form of mica – muscovite mica – its properties and how it’s used by the industry and by Elmelin to make a variety of processes safer and more efficient. …
