Oxidization systems are smaller in design due to their simplified process of operation. Using NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ with this system makes the process more effective. SOLVENTCLEAN™ can use the heat produced by the combustion inside the oxidization system for its own process of heating up the air to concentrate the VOCs.

Oxidization systems offer flexibility in design which can also result in lower operating costs.

Applications include:

• Paint booths
• Print line local ventilation
• Coating zone ventilation

If you want to know more about NICHIAS’ SOLVENTCLEAN™  system, please visit our website: NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ website.

Part 5 will focus on the use of NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ in Cooling recovery systems.

<Use in Cooling recovery systems>

Cooling recovery system is mainly used for NMP (N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone) solvent recovery. To achieve a high percentage of recovery of the solvent, a concentration rotor like NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ is crucial. With SOLVENTCLEAN™, the cooling recovery system can achieve 99% or higher recovery of NMP. Without a concentration rotor, there is a risk that recovered NMP will be of lower purity and quantity.

Due to the chemical properties of NMP (eg high boiling point and low vapour pressure), NMP can be easily condensed through cooling. As such, a cooling recovery system with NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ can operate at close to room temperature.

Applications for such systems include Lithium ion battery production

If you want to know more about NICHIAS’ SOLVENTCLEAN™  system, please visit our website: NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ website.

Part 6 will focus on the use of NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ in Adsorption recovery systems.

< Use in Adsorption recovery systems>  

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) adsorption recovery systems using activated carbon can benefit from the NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ system.

With SOLVENTCLEAN™, the adsorption recovery system requires a smaller exhaust gas volume for processing. This can significantly downsize the whole system, creating a compact design. As a result, there is the additional benefit of reduced operating costs.

Furthermore, adsorption recovery system has the option to use a concentration rotor as a complimentary component. In this case, a SOLVENTCLEAN™ concentration rotor is used to treat the exhaust gas before it reaches the adsorption recovery system, allowing for higher system removal efficiency.

Applications for such systems include cleaning process using chlorinated solvents (e.g. methylene chloride, etc)

If you want to know more about NICHIAS’ SOLVENTCLEAN™  system, please visit our website: NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ website.

Part 7 will look at the serviceable lifetime of NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™.

<How long can SOLVENTCLEAN™ be used?>

The serviceable lifetime of NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ varies depending on the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) components, operation time, and frequency of maintenance.

Under good operating conditions the product lifetime is 5-10 years. NICHIAS also provides a service that diagnoses the rotor performance and advises on maintenance (Rotor Element Analysis) which can extend the period. The NICHIAS team can also advise on rotor replacement if necessary.

Below is a sample of a rotor element that our team analysed. In such analysis, NICHIAS can determine the actual rotor condition and advise the customer of the estimated remaining life time – or if necessary – recommend the customer to replace the rotor.

If you want to know more about NICHIAS’ SOLVENTCLEAN™  system, please visit our website: NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ website.

In Part 8, we’ll look at the right SOLVENTCLEAN™ size for your system.

The main determining factor for the size of the VOC rotor is the volume of the air flow that needs to be processed. Additional factors that need to be considered are – concentrations of VOC gases, and required Destruction and Removal Efficiency (DRE).

Based on the above, NICHIAS can provide the following sizes for every type of our SOLVENTCLEAN™ rotor. We may also be able to provide larger sizes based upon customer’s requirements.

If you want to know more about NICHIAS’ SOLVENTCLEAN™  system, please visit our website: NICHIAS SOLVENTCLEAN™ website.

The final Part 9 will discuss the information needed for a successful design of the right SOLVENTCLEAN™ concentration rotor and system.

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In this article, we will introduce our NICHIAS FINEFLEX BIO™ Cast product and its comparison to other RCF castable materials.

Alkaline Earth Silicate (AES) fibre is one of the many different solutions that can be used instead of RCF. AES is also a man-made fibre (similar to RCF) with heat resistance up to 1200°C.

Below is a comparison of RCF and AES material in the form of castable solution

RCF and AES fibrecast comparison chart

NICHIAS conducted comparison research into RCF and AES fibrecast products as a part of an R&D led review project. Below is a list of three main differences that were noted as a result.

1) Surface condition and ease of installation

The consistency of the products is relatively similar. However, AES offers the space for adding a rigidizer to increase consistency to customer’s requirements.

2) Porosity

AES seems to be more porous than RCF material which may lead to crumbling if not applied correctly. However, this may also be corrected with the inclusion of rigidizer.

3) Shrinkage

After installation, shrinkage with AES fiber systems is a more significant issue to manage than with RCF ones.

The outcome of this project provided the NICHIAS R&D team with indicators of what needed to be improved in the use of AES fibers in cast products. NICHIAS FINEFLEX BIO^TM Cast incorporated development of all three aspects listed above. Specifically, NICHIAS corrected the materials shrinkage where at 1100°C, the FINEFLEX BIO^TM Cast has lower shrinkage rate than RCF. You can see more details in the technical product introduction linked below.

Furthermore, since AES fiber is to service the same industry as RCF, NICHIAS produced three different types to correspond with the varied application in industry.

FINEFLEX BIO^TM Cast 400 – standard type, general use product

FINEFLEX BIO^TM Cast 700 – high-density type

FINEFLEX BIO^TM Cast 400P – aimed for pump construction

You can find more details on each product here. The full technical product introduction can be found here.

Of course, if you want to find out more about FINEFLEX BIO^TM Cast, feel free to let us know via the form below, or email directly to info@nichias.eu.

Microporous insulation is often selected as a component in a layered thermal insulation system used in heavy duty furnaces to reduce the external skin temperature to approximately 50°C, whilst the internal furnace temperature can be as high as 1,600°C. Examples include carburizing or nitrogenation furnaces, or heating objects like shafts, gears and cam for power transmission.
In recent years, furnace manufacturers have been working to make their furnaces more compact. This means they have had to find alternative solutions that provide the same level of insulation whilst minimizing the overall thickness.

In Japan ROSLIM™ has become the material of choice for its low thermal conductivity (0.04 W/mk at 800°C). It has been selected for use in molten metal furnaces as a backup material, placed behind the insulation that directly faces the molten metal.

Thanks to its excellent thermal conductivity properties, use of ROSLIM™ can deliver a -50% reduction in the overall insulation thickness of the furnace walls (see figure 1).

^{Figure 1 – Insulation thickness reduction with ROSLIM™ boards}

When combining ROSLIM™ boards with other insulation materials, the overall thickness decreases whilst maintaining the temperature profile of 1,000°C on the furnace interior to 57°C on the exterior whilst also reducing the number of layers of insulation.

ROSLIM™ is also used in molten pots (figure 2), or as a block unit (figure 3).

^{Figure 2 -  Molten pot}

^{Figure 3 - Combined block unit}

ROSLIM™ can be adapted for use in some of the most demanding thermal insulation applications in the industry. If your application requires a solution that can reduce the overall thickness of the system, remain reliable at high temperatures and further lower system costs, than feel free to contact us to discuss your particular application.

Microporous insulation is one of the best insulation materials on the market used for thermal management and fire protection. The reason is its lower than still air thermal conductivity. The nano-porous structure of the material traps very small air pockets separated within the block structure by a low thermal conducting matrix – thereby creating a very good thermal insulator. This method of manufacturing achieves a highly efficient thermal management solutions. When this solution is applied in a thermal management system, it can improve its overall efficiency as well. In many cases, it is used in combination with other thermal insulation products.

Currently, the most well-known products on the market are Microtherm®, Promalight® and WDS® available in various shapes such as boards (covered or quilted), tubes, and others. It is a common practice to encapsulate microporous insulation due to its tendency to release dust when handled or machined – which can limit the products use (see photographs of such products in Fig 1).

^{Figure 1 – competitors encapsulated Microporous insulation boards}

ROSLIM™ GH is a microporous insulation widely adopted in Japan. It solves many of the current limitations of competitors’ products with its novel composition. By default, it is provided as an uncovered board. Compared to other products available ROSLIM™ releases much smaller amounts of dust (article link here) – which allows users to more easily machine the Board.

Also, in terms of machinability, ROSLIM™ has been designed to be machinable to high specifications. It can be machined to intricate and compact designs such as those utilized for fuel cells, or compact metrology equipment. Figure 2 demonstrates the excellent machinability of ROSLIM™ GH (LHS photo) vs competitors microporous insulation board (RHS photo).

 ^{Figure 2 ROSLIM™ GH (left hand side photo) vs competitors machined microporous insulation board (right had side photo)}

^{Figure 3 – a 300mm wide x 600 mm length x 25mm thick ROSLIM™ board machined with 2 rows of 21 holes and 2 rows of 25 holes drilled.}

When machining competitor’s microporous insulation products, finished machined parts can be imprecise due to material crumbling, leaving rough edges and corners that can cause heat leakages. Thanks to its composition, NICHIAS ROSLIM™ allows precise corners and edges to be cut – cut parts can be more precisely assembled resulting in the insulation performance of the whole system being uncompromised (see Fig 4).

^{Figure 4 Insulation performance of a machined and assembled board. ROSLIM™ GH (left hand side photo) vs competitors machined microporous insulation board (right had side photo)}

In terms of thermal conductivity, when used as a backup material, ROSLIM™ delivers better performance than the majority of other conventional solutions such as calcium silicate or alumina silicate boards - reducing the number of layers and thickness of insulation required (see Fig 5).

^{Figure 5 - ROSLIM™ thermal conductivity}

A test was conducted at 800⁰C to compare the thermal conductivity of ROSLIM™ against alumina silicate boards – which resulted in 0.24 W/(m.K) being recorded for alumina silicate board, with ROSLIM™ recording only 0.04 W/(m.K), a 6x lower thermal conductivity, even lower than that of air which was 0.7 W/(m.K).

In summary, physical and performance property benefits of ROSLIM™ are increasingly making ROSLIM™ the product of choice for customers in Japan, elsewhere in Asia and now also in Europe. Thanks to these properties, use of ROSLIM™ can reduce costs by reducing the thickness of the overall insulation system, providing a sought-out option for complex designs, whilst providing reliable insulation performance.

If you have a challenging application that needs an adaptable insulation, feel free to talk to us about ROSLIM™ GH.

Plasma resistivity is mainly required for O-rings used in the semiconductor industry in etching equipment or liquid crystal manufacturing equipment. Several studies and experiments have been conducted to find the best performing material for specific very few focused on the why and how plasma erodes O-ring material causing deformation, cracking, and weight loss.

NICHIAS Corporation R&D staff at our Hamamatsu research centre collaborated with scientists in Tohoku University, Japan to answer this question. Their recently published paper explains their findings, a summary of which is detailed here.

The main reasons for elastomer erosion, as a consequence of exposure to plasma, is a result of the amount of flux and kinetic energy of ions and neutral radicals. The aim of the study was to understand the effects of these three on the behaviour of the elastomer to better understand the running costs and maintenance periods in use. The results of this study are aimed to help industry professionals choose the right material for various locations in the plasma equipment.

The tested materials were FKM and FFKM. FKM was designed for and is mostly adopted in vacuum equipment because of its resistance to oils, heat, and chemicals. However, with the introduction of corrosive gas plasma in the semiconductor industry, this material has reached its limit of performance. FFKM was then developed adopting a different structural bond. This gives the material improved stability especially against heat and chemicals making FFKM better suited to use in plasma applications.

The samples tested were 13mm diameter and 2mm thick in size. They were exposed to plasma irradiation for 5 minutes in 12 sequences, totalling an overall of 60-minute plasma irradiation exposure. The maximum temperature that the elastomer was exposed to was 105°C during a 5-minute plasma irradiation sequence. The O-rings were exposed to CF₄/O₂ plasmas at different pressures up to 115 Pa.

The results showed significant differences when it came to weight loss of the materials at low kinetic energy of positive ions (less than 10eV). FKM suffered major weight losses in the range between 25 and 106MPa. The FFKM weight loss decreased with the increase in pressure. Since kinetic energy of positive ions was kept low, it is likely that neutral radicals were the cause of FKM material erosion.

However, the kinetic energy of positive ions is an important factor in the overall erosion of elastomers. The kinetic energy can be increased by connection to rf power. This was simulated in the experiment as well at which point the weight loss in both materials increased.

The main issue with material weight loss is the fact that the higher the weight loss % the more the O-ring loses its sealing capability. This leads to shorter maintenance periods and longer downtimes.

Another factor to consider when choosing the correct material is the surface morphology when exposed to plasma. During the plasma irradiation tests, both materials experienced surface roughness. However, the common phenomenon was the occurrence of significant roughness on the surface for both FKM and FFKM when the working pressure decreased. This was likely due to the positive ion bombardment which was already responsible for material erosion.

There were also severe effects observed on the material with the introduction of rf power. Without rf power the surfaces were smooth. With rf power, protrusions on the surface were observed. This suggested more severe effects on the material when rf power is introduced. However, in comparison, the surface of the materials was similar at 10Pa without rf power to 30Pa with rf power.

These experiments confirm that both materials experience erosion by low-energy positive ions bombardment but at different rates. FFKM seems to have more stability in high pressure environments without rf power. This makes FFKM more stable in that application whereas FKM suffers major weight losses.

Although, FKM has lower resistivity to plasma and shows deformation, mass reduction and cracking, it is a more cost-effective solution at the expense of maintenance costs and downtimes. FFKM material, on the other hand, is a high-end product which shows only minimal deterioration under severe plasma exposure and can therefore deliver longer maintenance periods and shorter downtimes.

Ultimately the experiments show that investing in FFKM material may be beneficial long term where the material does not suffer as major losses as FKM in-use. The initial investment may balance out against shorter maintenance cycles and downtimes. There are currently higher performing FKM materials which are applicable in medium duty applications. However, FFKM provides extra securities for overall equipment functionality and lifetime.

If you are interested in finding out more, NICHIAS Corporation carries the Blazer^TM range of O-rings in FFKM and high performing FKM materials. So, if you have any questions regarding the use of either FFKM or FKM O-rings - then please do not hesitate to ask us here at NICHIAS.