Markus Mann, Manager Technology Innovation, Kanthal“When we started making Fibrothal® back in 1978, I don’t think anyone could have imagined it would become as big as it is today,” says Markus Mann, Manager Technology Innovation at Kanthal’s plant in Walldorf, Germany.

Originally developed to address the challenge of combining ceramic fibers, such as blankets or folding blocks, with electric heating elements in industrial furnaces, the Fibrothal® range now includes a complete line of vacuum-formed ceramic fiber components, with or without heating elements.

Tested, proven, and continuously improved

“At Kanthal, we believe customers should never have to settle for ‘good enough,’ which is why all Fibrothal® solutions are tested extensively during development and continuously improved in partnership with furnace builders, to make sure they are easy to use and install,” says Mann.

Fibrothal® combines high-performance insulation with a custom-built electric heating solution in a single modular system. It’s quick to install and easy to tailor to customer specifications.

“Depending on the individual application, we can design and optimize it to save energy,” states Mann. “There’s nothing else on the market like Fibrothal®!”

From weeks to days

Traditionally, kiln building was a time-consuming task, often requiring weeks of manual brick-lining. The modular nature of Fibrothal® means implementation can now be completed in as little as one to two days.

Mann emphasizes that each heating process is unique.

if you have the right heating elements and design made from the right alloys, what you will get in exchange is high performance and long service life, high uptime and excellent productivity.

“There’s a reason why we are a market leader with Fibrothal®: the experience we have built over the decades allows us to squeeze the most out of the technology,” he explains.  

“Having produced and developed Fibrothal® for decades, we’re very confident in our ability to deliver exactly what the customer process requires. And what it ultimately comes down to is this: if you have the right heating elements and design made from the right alloys, what you will get in exchange is high performance and long service life, high uptime and excellent productivity.” 

Innovation in collaboration

Ines Nickel, process engineer, Kanthal“Our development process takes place jointly with our customers,” Mann adds. “We take their input seriously and funnel their feedback into our development process to make sure our products and solutions meet their needs.” 

Kanthal’s in-house lab rigorously tests products and processes, ensuring Fibrothal® is ready to meet tomorrow’s demands. 

“If an industry works with high temperatures, Kanthal brings the heat,” says Ines Nickel, Process Engineer at Kanthal. “No heat is too hot for Kanthal!” 

Energy savings and electrification

“Fibrothal® has very low thermal conductivity, which means it saves energy,” says Nickel. “And saving energy is the future.” 

She also notes that Fibrothal® provides fossil-free electric heat, reinforcing its place as a future-proof technology for high-temperature industrial processes. Applications include heat treatment in the aluminum, semiconductor, and lithium-ion industries.

Proven in lithium refining

Fibrothal® heating module

Fibrothal® has demonstrated strong results in acid roasting, a crucial step in lithium refining. “This is a process that occurs at moderate temperatures,” Mann explains.

“What that means is that you can achieve very high energy density when using electric heat.”

One company with extensive experience using Fibrothal® is OneJoon, a German-Korean manufacturer of thermal processing equipment.

“We use the Fibrothal® because it works!” says Peter Vervoort, Vice President of Process Development and Technology at OneJoon. “We wouldn’t want to switch to anything else.”

A long-term partnership

Kanthal and OneJoon have partnered for over fifty years. Since the launch of Fibrothal®, it has been tested across various industries.

“The oldest application where we still use Fibrothal® is in the razor blade industry, but we also use it for carbon fiber production and, of course, in the battery industry,” says Vervoort, who believes Fibrothal® will be a “game changer” for the battery sector.

“In the rapidly developing battery business, upscaling is the biggest challenge we face,” he says. “Fibrothal® elements have helped us significantly to achieve the temperature precision we need to scale up to large furnaces.”

The best is yet to come

“We are moving toward the electrification of large-scale processes, and this is just the beginning,” Mann says. “Even though Fibrothal® is quite an old product, I believe we have only seen the start of what it’s capable of.”