Isulative Refractory Foam cement

I saw this idea that could be refined for amazing DIY rocket stove builds in the affordable category. Make your own insulative refractory cement casts and heat risers for rockets stoves. I am posting this video for education purposes and discussion only. I am not telling folks this will work and has worked since i have not done this. i would like to test this idea out and think it has great potential. comment below and join the discussion and add your experiences with this topic,

I dont think this guys formula is the best for refractory... i think the formula could be improved, but i do think he is on to something. i am thinking more like foam refractory cement and foam, clay and foam, and or ceramic and foam and or a combination of all them?

anyone have any ideas on foam refractory cement? i think it has potential for affordable rocket stove molds and heat risers

Hey F styles, how has your magazine rocket fared this winter?



This subject has been discussed at Donkey's But sure i am no expert.

http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/1241/geopolymers-alkali-activated-inorganic-binders

http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/1047/experimental-home-refractory

http://donkey32.proboards.com/board/1

Hey rocket stove brother... my Rocket Mag stove is doing amazing and has exceeded my expectations in ever way. im telling ya i could forge steel in this thing.  its still easy as heck to load from the top and dump in very large logs... goodness im so glad i dont have to split tiny little shards to burn and just tossing in regular sized wood stove chucks allows me to buy a load of local wood if i need to with out having to do extra splitting. did i mention the easy top down loading... easy on the back, im not getting younger.
i am not interested in the formula of "liquid glass" the guy in the video uses... i just think we could take refractory cement and mix foam in it to make a refractory foam cement that would withstand the heat and have insulating properties. I dont think anyone has done it exactly the way i am thinking of doing it and the video was only to generate discussion and not duplicate his formula.
i think it can be molded and formed into rocket stoves and heat risers.

my formula would be refractory cement + foam creates refractory cement that has air pockets that would insulate, kinda like lava rock. test need to be done and its only in idea stage. looking to get people talking about it and experimenting.

i think its a great idea and has potential.

i would post a video of my season inspection but it the same as the last one.

All that effort with the cement and foam and all you get is a crumbly mess down the road. I say just buy some ceramic fiber board or blanket and call it good.

Well, you're trying to reinvent the wheel?

http://www.refractoryeng.com/insulating-firebrick

http://insultrade.cz/sites/default/files/technicke_listy/Firelite%20LI.pdf

http://www.morganthermalceramics.com/media/3965/firelite-2600-li-metric-data-sheet.pdf

thank you guys for chiming in.

i am not looking to reinvent the wheel. i know this kind of stuff exists but if you want any of those companies to build you a custom rocket stove or custom molded heat riser is not economically feasible. i am looking at the potential for affordable DIY.

I am not sure if i did not do a good job of making my self clear or if people just dont read what i type... not sure, but i will repeat that i do not like the video guys formula... should i have not have posted the video in order not to confuse folks? the videos are ONLY to be used for examples for a discussion.... please do not use his formula and tell me his idea wont work because i do not agree with it. its the foam concept im talking about, not his formula. I do know refractory should be more rugged than his formula. please do not include comments about the liquid glass because i do not agree with it. is that more clear? am i clear on that i do not like his formula but do like the foam concept for DIY molds?

my main interest is the in a foam and refractory cement mix idea and being able to DIY molds your self without having a large expensive company do it for you.

satamax i am interested in that firelite you posted... have you worked with it and how is it mixed or made to make "concrete" i tried a quick search for "firelite" and there is way too much stuff to sift through and i have not found that bag of stuff yet since http://www.thermalceramics.com/ in that document is dead.

I haven't tried that firelite. I have experimented with lightening mapegrout refractory mix with vermiculite, and perlite. The vermiculite mix is shite. Perlite can be better.

I know of one method of making light refractory, it's to use polystyrene bubbles as à charge in the refractory binder. Tho, that takes a tensioactive agent, iirc, so they don't float.

Sawdust can be used too. It burns, like the poly, when fired. Air entrained concrete uses sorts of tensioactives too. But i'm not quite sure.

great ideas... now i am sure i can use a refractory material like you did and use foam to create the air pockets instead of poly or wood chips.... i know this will work. if you can do that with what you said works then i am confident that foam will also work.

i also have experience with perlite and i used it in my rocket mag stove and it does work well. i really think foam and refractory mix material should work. thank you for the ideas

Got on to the same line of thinking a while back.  Wanting to find a way to turn my wealth of backyard clay into an important component of a lightweight, highly insulative, very long lived refractory.  I don't expect much huh?  Well, you learn a few things along the way.  I built a foam generator, and ordered some castable refractory, but there are chunks of grok in the refractory mix that are never going to remain suspended in the foam.  So I haven't tried that out yet.  I'd like to try the foam with another castable refractory if I could be certain of one that has consists only of very small particles.  Like portland cement.  I have found a paper on making ceramic foam bodies from clay slurry and a few reactive minerals that will provide gas bubbles in the mix.  I have also looked at the possibility of using glass microspheres in lieu of entrained gases or air for the "bubbles".  Then there is the insulative ceramic, or geopolymer argument.  There certainly is a great deal of work to be done in this area.  As it stands, I'm going to shy away from anything that isn't readily available from a farm supply store, or something that you couldn't just dig out of the ground or scavenge from a local beach.  I have made a bunch of clay slurry, soon I will attempt to foam and cast it into test molds and see what I can come up with.

Here's where my head is at now.  Patent 3944425