ISRO develops high silica cloth

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman mentioned in her Budget speech a product that is of great economic importance – technical textiles. The National Mission on Technical Textiles has been given an allocation of Rs 1,480 crore, for a 4-year implementation period. It is about time the government paid attention to this sector. As the FM noted, India imports technical textiles worth $ 16 billion every year.

Technical textiles offers an exciting entrepreneurial opportunity. Earlier in this blog, I had spoken about BARC’s invention of a solution to make flame-retardant textiles – you just dip a fabric into the solution and it acquires flame-retardant properties.

Now, here is another technical textile, developed by ISRO. It is called ‘high silica cloth’, which can be used in industries for insulation and thermal protection for non-metallic bellows, wrapping of pipes, hoses and cables, seals and gaskets. This product is asbestos-free and has a melting point of 1,650 degrees C—so it can be used in very hot places.

ISRO has technology to produce fabrics in two thickness grades—0.75mm and 1.2mm. The product has been successfully used as thermal blankets in industries dealing with high temperature and corrosive applications.

For this product, ISRO has not given contact details, but one might get in touch with:

Group Head
Technology Transfer & Documentation Group
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) ISRO P.O
Thiruvananthapuram - 695 013
Fax : 0471-256 4134.