The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for producing a light-weight article, particularly a brick, made from a water-fiber suspension including ceramic fibers. The present invention also relates to a light-weight fiber brick produced by such process and apparatus. As employed herein the term "light-weight" brick is intended to refer, as is understood in the art, to a brick, block or other article of a construction, specifically a fiber construction, that is substantially of less weight than conventional brick construction.
The present invention particularly is directed to such a process and apparatus, and brick produced thereby, for manufacturing a fire-proof or refractory molded article from ceramic fiber material.
A process for producing such an article is disclosed in German DE 34 44 397 A1. In such process, the suspension is introduced into a molding device including a pressure resistant preform screen. Water is drawn off through suction applied to the side of such screen or mesh opposite the interior of the molding device. Thus, water is drawn off only through one side of the molding device. As a result, the fibers become oriented in substantially the same single direction throughout the interior of the molding device, and also then are oriented in substantially a single direction in the finished brick or article. In the case of relatively thin articles such as fiber boards, such a single fiber orientation is not critical. However, such a single fiber orientation is disadvantageous for block-shaped articles or bricks, since the fibers within such articles are arranged with substantially no cross linking. This impairs the stability of the fiber brick article and results in the thermal conductivity of the article being dependent upon and a function of the orientation of the article.
Disclosed in German DE 27 10 996 A1 and DE 29 24 085 are processes for manufacturing mineral fiber-containing paper products.