Blanket insulation is typically made by spinning molten material, often glass, into fine fibres which are then formed into blankets or rolls.
The Manufacturing Process
Based on the process described for products like Bradford Building Blanket, blanket insulation is produced using a technique involving high temperatures and spinning. The core material is first melted down.
Key Steps in Production
- Melting the Material: Raw materials, commonly including glass and a significant percentage of recycled content (up to 65% in some cases), are heated to a molten state.
- Spinning into Fibres: The molten material is then fed into high-speed spinners. These machines rapidly spin the molten material, creating fine, thread-like fibres. This is similar to how cotton candy is made, but on an industrial scale using glass or other mineral materials.
- Forming the Blanket: The newly created fibres are collected and formed into a mat or blanket shape. A binder is usually applied to hold the fibres together and give the blanket its structure and resilience.
- Cutting and Packaging: The large blankets are then cut into standard sizes, rolls, or batts, and packaged for distribution and installation.
The resulting product is a lightweight, wool-like material primarily designed for general thermal insulation applications in buildings. The structure of the tangled fibres creates many small air pockets, which are excellent at trapping heat and reducing energy transfer.
Using recycled content in the manufacturing process helps to reduce waste and conserve raw materials, making the insulation product more sustainable.
