West Coast Surveys

Asbestos Management

Design by Support-4u

 

Tel: 01900 61608

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Types of Asbestos

The principal types of asbestos which were used commercially in the UK were: chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite, but they can not just be identified by colour.

 

 

Chrysotile (white asbestos)

 

Also known as white asbestos chrysotile is a member of the Serpentine group, so-named because the fibre is curly. Chrysotile fibres are the most flexible of all asbestos fibres; they can withstand the fiercest heat but are so soft and flexible that they can be spun and woven as easily as cotton. Resistance to alkaline attack makes chrysotile a useful reinforcing material in asbestos-cement building products.

 

 

Traditionally it was the most widely used of all asbestos types, accounting for approximately 95% of asbestos mined annually. Like the other forms of asbestos, chrysotile can absorb organic materials such as resins and polymers and can be used to strengthen particulates such as cement - sales of asbestos roofing slates rose by 25% in 1993.

 

Crocidolite (blue asbestos)

 

Crocidolite is known colloquially as blue asbestos and is a member of the Amphibole group. The needle-like fibres are the strongest of all asbestos fibres and have a high resistance to acids. Crocidolite was used in yarn and rope lagging from the 1880s until the mid 1960s and in preformed thermal insulation from the mid 1920s until 1950. The high bulk volume of crocidolite made it suitable for use in sprayed insulation.

Crocidolite is known to be the most lethal of all the asbestos types. The import of crocidolite peaked in 1950, fell by 25% in 1960 and by 88% in 1970.

 

 

 

Grunerite   

 

Grunerite is also known as Amosite and brown asbestos and is, like crocidolite, a member of the Amphibole group. Its harsh, spiky fibres have good tensile strength and resistance to heat. In buildings, amosite was used for anti-condensation and acoustic purposes; on structural steel it was used for fire protection. Between the 1920s and the late 1960s amosite was used in preformed thermal insulation, pipes, slabs and moulded pipe fitting covers. In the UK amosite was also used widely in the manufacture of insulation boards.  

 

What is Asbestos

 

Historical records show that asbestos has been used by man for over 4,000 years. Nicknamed “the magic mineral”, the term asbestos is derived from a Greek word meaning “inextinguishable, unquenchable or inconsumable.” It is a generic name for a group of fibrous silicate minerals, the most common of which are chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite.

 

 

Its strength, insulation and fire retardation properties, made it ideal for manufacture, but we are now paying the price. Banned for over a decade it is still alarming to think that most buildings constructed before 2000 are likely to contain asbestos. Asbestos is now a Class One carcinogen.