Nature and benefits of cellulose fibres as thixotrop in asphalt and textured coatings

For more than 90 years asbestos' strength, resistance to high temperatures and thixotropic qualities have made it the wonder material of the coating industry. However, about 1955 scientists began to be aware of something else — a distinct relationship between exposure to asbestos and incidence of mesothelioma (cancer of the membranes which line the chest and abdominal walls) and bronchogenic carcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. These findings have, as we all know, become one of the most volatile health issues of the 1980s. Concurrent with this awareness, a quiet revolution has been taking place in the laboratories and pilot installations of all concerned industries, and especially in the coating field. Encouragment to enter into this movement has come from diverse and more or less unrelated sources; involvement in the form of legal action, insurance companies examining potential losses, governments adapting protective legislation and finally, but not least, the concerns of the industry itself that only safe products enter the marketplace. This revolution, otherwise described as the Frantic Search for The Perfect Asbestos Replacement, has spread in many directions, and is far from being over. Materials of every conceivable type are still being examined; organic, inorganic, synthetic and natural, as well as infinite combinations of these. Accompanying all research is the realization that any product finally adapted for use must meet three basic conditions. It must be absolutely unequivocally non‐carcinogenic. It must be plentiful, and its use must be cost effective.