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ZircoFlexTM
is believed to be
the first-ever flexible ceramic heat shield material. It is the culmination of
more than five years intensive research and materials science, using a new
technology in which the ceramic material is sprayed in the form of thousands of
individual ‘platelets' onto the surface of the backing foil. While these
platelets are close-packed to provide comprehensive heat protection, their
structure coupled with the forming processes allows the foil to be flexible and
easily manipulated and bent to shape.
With patents pending, ZircoFlexTM foil is unique and is only available from Zircotec and its authorised partners.
Thermal Performance
ZircoFlexTM offers superb
thermal barrier performance.
We commissioned an analysis of the performance of a
leading commercial double walled heat shield material (5.25mm thk. and 1.46
kg/m2) with just one layer of
ZircoFlexTM foil (0.25mm thk. and 0.46
kg/m2). In both cases the heat-shield was put in direct contact with the heat source (the worst case scenario)
and temperature measurements were taken on the outer "cold" surface of each heat shield. Under these conditions the commercial heat
shield material was only able to achieve a temperature reduction of
~35%, whilst the much thiner and lighter ZircoFlexTM
foil reduced
temperatures by ~64%; see chart.
A repeat of these tests with ZircoFlex IITM and ZircoFlex IIITM revealed similarly spectacular results, see our extended chart.
In its present form ZircoFlexTM
is suitable for applications with
temperatures up to 500oC. We do not recommend using this grade of ZircoFlexTM
in direct contact with high performance exhaust manifolds or headers.
Applications
As expected,
early applications for ZircoFlexTM foil are coming from the
motorsport sector, where the foil can be used to protect sensitive components
from heat in increasingly crowded engine bays. ZircoFlexTM foil is already being supplied to a range of motorsport series including F1.
We are also experiencing
considerable interest from the automotive and aerospace sectors where the foil is in demand as
a rapid solution to thermal protection problems.
ZircoFlexTM
is
supplied in a range of formats and sizes.
Zircotec is
continuing its research into flexible ceramic coatings and has plans to produce
an expanded range of ZircoFlexTM foils using a range of
alternative substrates.
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