Fly Ash? Fly ash is the fraction of combusted coal that becomes suspended in plant flue gases. The fly ash available for beneficial use is captured primarily by mechanical particulate collection devices, such as an electrostatic precipitator or baghouse. The remaining fly ash that passes through these particulate collection devices either escapes into the atmosphere […]
Have you ever wondered how things are made? Like Cement, find out how many of the objects we use become the things they are. Watch as “How It’s Made” reveals the methods and materials of Cement.
It was springtime in Phoenix, Ronald Reagan was our president. I was on my way, really going places. I was no longer just a journeyman fireproofer/plasterer working for a buck but was now a bonafide, fireproofing, plaster-pumping, money-making contractor. I had financed my first Spray Force plaster pump, ownership was now a reality. I headed […]
VOLCANIC LAVA from the wastelands, of western America is being popped like popcorn to produce a material that can slash construction costs, cut heating bills and increase fire protection. In some forms, the volcanic popcorn promises to increase the storage space in your refrigerator, help place cheaper meat and fruit on your table and perform hundreds of industrial tasks. It even provides Hollywood movie makers with realistic dandruff for actors.
This new pearl-gray material is called perlite in both its raw and processed forms. It is n glassy volcanic lava known to man for thousands of years, but it took a metallurgist working in a little Arizona town to discover its unusual properties.
Since the beginning of time, the lava flows in our western lands have existed in the badlands, in the mountains and the desert. The badlands are like a close-up view of the moon, forbidding and lonely. Men in their search for minerals passed them by.
Perlite itself is so razor-edged it will cut a hiker’s boots to ribbons. It is too brittle and sharp for roadbeds. It is no wonder’ that the rattlesnake and the Gila monster had the perlite barrens to themselves.