TPSX-12 Calsil Insulation

Due to extremely long lead times from the major domestic supplier of high temperature calcium silicate board, TPS is now offering a competitive alternative to ease supply chain concerns. The product is a 1100°C (2012°F) maximum service temperature (1050°C continuous) calcium silicate board featuring a xonotlite (6CaO ∙ SiO2 ∙ H2O) crystal structure which is extremely heat resistant and provides high compressive strength.

TPS-XTREME™ contains ZERO asbestos, mercury, sulphur, chlorine or other toxic substances. It provides greater than 6.0 MPa (870 psi) compressive strength with a density of 550Kg/m³ (34.3 PCF). This type of calcium silicate board is often fabricated into OEM parts for high load bearing insulation applications such as inserts for industrial pipe supports and refractory backup insulation inside of furnaces.

The boards are manufactured in 1200 mm x 1200 mm (4′ x 4′) dimensions with thicknesses ranging from 20-60 mm (0.79 to 2.36 inches). Please contact sales@thermalpipeshields.com for more information.

It is said 80% of all piping within industrial facilities is 8″ or less in diameter. Although TPSX-12 calsil insulation is available from the factory to fit up to 126″ diameter in filter pressed sections, TPS only stocks calsil to fit from 1/2″ to 24″ diameter pipes at our three U.S. locations. If one has time to wait for larger than 24″ diameter sections to ship direct from the factory, then we can order in the sizes and amounts needed for the project. But what if one doesn’t have time to wait and needs something that will fill the bill without the longer lead times?

3-V scored calsil block is a great solution for these very common larger diameter pipes, tanks and vessels. It starts out as flat calsil block in various thicknesses such as 1.5, 2, 2,5 and 3″ thickness. The dimensions of the blocks are 12″ wide x 36″ long to make them easy to handle. The plain flat block is run through a special saw that has custom made dado head saw blades that cut three v-shaped grooves into one of the long sides of the block. This allows the flat block to “snap” once installed and conform to the curvature of the metal asset.

Essentially, 3-V scored block is a ubiquitous configuration that can be installed in one or multiple layers in order to provide the required total thickness specified by the engineer. TPS stocks 4 different thicknesses of 3-V scored calsil block and keeps numerous truckloads of each size on hand due to its popularity amongst contractors.

TPS is excited to announce the opening of our 3rd location in Beaumont, Texas! This warehouse is strategically located between Houston and Baton Rouge and is in the heart of the “Golden Triangle”. Our Las Vegas warehouse Supervisor has been promoted to Warehouse Manager in Beaumont and is joined by two other current TPS employees that relocated to Texas. This new location will be focused on the industrial market and will stock 86 different sizes of TPSX-12 calsil pipe cover and block. Our initial stocking orders constitute 40 truckloads of our high quality filter pressed calcium silicate insulation and several truckloads of our Therma-Phen phenolic foam fabrication bun stock.

Construction of the brand new 3-story warehouse building (left) adjacent to the BEC calcium silicate manufacturing building (right) is now complete. Each floor is 35,520 square feet (3,300 square meters) for a total of 106,560 square feet (9,900 square meters) of floor space. Each floor has 20 foot (6 meters) ceiling heights which provides over 2.1 million cubic feet of storage capacity. The brand new warehouse building dedicated for finished goods storage is estimated to hold up to 150 total 40′ HC shipping containers.

This significant investment will have the effect of reducing overall supply chain lead times for calsil industrial insulation by allowing orders to be shipped from finished goods inventory instead of waiting for each order to be manufactured as was the case with the extremely small BEC Shanghai factory which was permanently closed in Feb. 2021.

TPS is happy to announce the opening of the first new calcium silicate (calsil) insulation factory capable of servicing the North American market in over 45 years! The new factory is a the most advanced and efficient calsil factory in the world and has fully optimized the new manufacturing technologies and automation developed since the mid 1970’s. The greenfield factory was constructed and financed by BEC Industrial Insulation. The annual production of the factory is 2.5 times the capacity of the previous factory formerly known as “IIG Shanghai” and will be the catalyst that will allow BEC calsil (branded as TPSX-12 in North America) to continue to inject legitimate competition against the incumbent supplier and capture 50% or more of the calsil market over the next 3-5 years.

The President of TPS, David Shong, recently published a technical paper for an ASTM International Symposium called STP1629 “Performance, Properties, and Resilience of Thermal Insulations” sponsored by the C16 subcommittee.   The symposium featured “nine peer-reviewed papers with state-of-the-art knowledge on topics related to performance resiliency of thermal insulation materials in the built environment.” 

The paper discusses the history of calcium silicate (calsil) “as the workhorse industrial insulation for oil refineries, power and chemical plants, and pulp and paper mills.”   Due to several historical reasons regarding the formulation of first generation calsil, the insulation became associated with higher rates of corrosion under insulation (CUI).  This caused the market for calsil to decline and all producers to exit the market leaving only a single firm by 2002. 

In 2018, TPS launched the first new calsil insulation that could levy legitimate competition in the North American market by meeting and exceeding all physical property requirements in accordance with ASTM C533 type I.  “This paper discusses advances in manufacturing technology and economic influences that fully address the historically cited reasons that engineers eliminated calsil insulation from their specifications.”

Please contact TPS directly if you would like to discuss the paper or your industrial insulation needs. Please click on the link below to purchase the copyrighted document.

https://www.astm.org/stp162920190167.html

In response to strong customer demand, TPS is now stocking several new sizes of TPSX-12 calsil insulation in our Las Vegas, NV location.

3″ thick 3-V Scored Block

6″ thick x 24″ wide x 36″ long Plain Fabrication Block

4 1/2 x 1 1/2 pipe cover