A natural mineral fiber

Chrysotile is a fibrous mineral which does not burn or rot. It is resistant to most chemicals, it is flexible and possesses high tensile strength. This unique combination of properties makes chrysotile an extremely useful material which has been established, for many decades, as a major component of lightweight reinforced cement products, friction materials, high temperature seals and gaskets and a host of other applications.

Chrysotile has been known for over 2000 years, being used initially for cremation cloths, oil lamp wicks and other textiles. But it is only in the 19th Century that chrysotile was first mined commercially in the Urals (Russia), in Italy and in Canada.

From asbestos to chrysotile

Current asbestos products are as different from the old ones as night and day. Today, only one type of asbestos is exported: chrysotile. In addition, the industry now only markets dense and non-friable materials in which the chrysotile fibre is encapsulated in a matrix of either cement or resin. These products include chrysotile-cement building materials, friction materials, gaskets and certain plastics.

The old products, principally low-density insulation materials, were very dusty and crumbled under hand pressure. Unlike today's products, they often contained amphibole fibres (crocidolite and amosite).