Asbestos Properties
Considering the incredible properties of asbestos, it is easy to see
why the material was known for a long time as the “magic mineral”. It has been used
for many hundreds of years but extensive use began around the turn of the 20th century
and continues even today in many societies despite the known and established health
risks. There vast deposits of asbestos around the world and it is mined in much
the same way as any other mineral.
Below is a list of asbestos properties. They are not true of all asbestos types
but given as a general guide to why asbestos has so many industrial uses
- Chemically inert, meaning that it is resistant to and does not react with other
chemicals
- Heat resistant, making it non-flammable even at high temperatures
- Alkaline and acid resistant
- Water resistant
- Strong, when tense, asbestos is known to be stronger than steel
- Flexible so that it can be spun and woven like cotton
- Has no detectable smell
- Resilient, asbestos can survive for years, as we know from its existence in old
buildings
- Hard, its amazingly resitant to abrasion
Asbestos appearance
The appearance of asbestos fibre might best be described using words such as “spiky”
or “needle-like”, except for Chrysotile where the fibres are curly.
As for colour, asbestos varies according to the type and specific metals contained
within. For example, crocidolite is deemed to be the most colourful with hues ranging
from lilac to green. It is the iron within the mineral that induces a green colour
and the more iron there is, the more robust the colour of green. Informally crocidolite
is known as “blue asbestos”, amosite as “brown asbestos” and the rest - chyrsotile,
tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite - are usually white in colour.
Chemical makeup
Serpentine asbestos has a chemical formula of Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 and amphibole asbestos
has a basic structure as follows: (Si4O11)-6.