What Is Non-Asbestos Material Replacing Asbestos?

Why is Asbestos useful?

Asbestos is useful because of its properties. Asbestos manufacturers have developed more than 3,000 products and applications. These also include industrial applications, such as chemical resistant products and sealing products. 

The properties of asbestos include:

• Tensile strength
• Resist friction, wear and tear
• Flexible 
• Good thermal resistance 
• Good insulator against heat, electricity, and sound
• Not damaged easily 

Why Is Asbestos Harmful To You?

Asbestos and asbestos fibers can be harmful to you if you work in asbestos mines and asbestos making factories. It is also harmful to you if you work in demolition of buildings with asbestos containing materials (ACM). 

Family members that lived with someone that worked near asbestos, or someone who regularly cleaned asbestos-tainted work clothes may also have been exposed to asbestos. This is often known as family exposure, household exposure, take-home exposure, secondary exposure, or second-hand exposure.

Asbestos fibers are so tiny that you need a microscope to see them. They also have no taste or smell and can be in the air without you knowing. When you breathe in asbestos fibers, they are sharp and durable and get stuck and embedded in your lungs and other parts of the body. Over time they cause damage and lead to health problems.

One disease often caused by asbestos is asbestosis, which occurs when scars form in the lungs. Asbestosis is non-cancerous, but is often extremely painful and may limit what you can do. Asbestosis can lead to other types of health problems.

Asbestos exposure can also cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, an aggressive and dangerous cancer of the lining of organs such as the lungs and the stomach, that has no cure. Asbestos can also cause cancers in the digestive system and other areas, and unfortunately there are no safe types of asbestos – all types can cause cancer.

Why are they Called Non-asbestos Substances?

You call them non-asbestos substances because they do not contain asbestos. They have properties similar to ACMs. Therefore, they could replace ACMs. 

Can you Replace Asbestos Gaskets with Non-Asbestos Gaskets? 

You can replace asbestos gaskets with non-organic fibers. You can also use aramid fiber, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), or ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), which are synthetic forms of rubber or plastic. You can make gaskets with carbon mixed with different polymers and coated with graphite. 

Replacing Asbestos Sealing Products

You can replace ACM sealing products with rubber and fillers. You can also use organic and mineral fibers. They offer sealing, heat resistance, and torque retention properties. They are excellent as sealing materials. 

Alternate Choices for Asbestos Cement And Roofing Products

You can replace ACM cement and roofing products with synthetic fibers. Asbestos roofing products can also be replaced with vegetable or cellulose fibers mixed with fly ash, silica fume, or rice husk ash. You can make non-asbestos roofing material with the finest quality cement, synthetic fibers and natural mineral binders.

Vegetable or cellulose fibers can also be substituted for facades, ceilings, and partitions made of asbestos containing materials (ACM). Other options include wastepaper, synthetic fibers, and gypsum boards. You can use even polystyrene, plasterboard, or calcium silicate.

70% of manufactured asbestos can be found in cement. Asbestos strengthens concrete and makes it more fireproof. But high-pressure ACM cement pipe can be replaced with ductile iron and cast iron pipe. You can also use high-density polyethylene pipe, polyvinyl chloride pipe, glass-reinforced polyester pipe, and/or steel-reinforced concrete pipes.

Storage tanks made with ACM cement can be replaced with storage tanks manufactured of cellulose, polyethylene, and fiberglass.

You can replace ACM rainwater gutters with hand-molded cellulose cement or PVC.

With What Do You Replace ACM Firefighting Clothing? 

Asbestos is known for its heat resistance and was used to fireproof many materials and products. Firefighters even wore clothing made of asbestos fabric because it wouldn’t burn.

But because of the health hazards of asbestos, asbestos firefighting clothing had to be replaced with high-tech fibers or vacuum-deposited aluminized materials. These are aluminized glass, aluminized nomex, and aluminized rayon. They offer excellent insulation with flame resistance. The clothing is very useful to firefighters. They also help in aircraft rescue operations in the event of fire.

New Technologies for Replacing Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM) with Non-Asbestos

There are new technologies in material science. Scientists discover newer materials that can replace existing products with ACMs. These do not cause health conditions the way that asbestos does. With non-asbestos products, you can prevent diseases, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, a form of deadly cancer.