Composition, process, and product

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR BINDING INORGANIC FIBERS THE STEPS COMPRISING FORMING A SHAPED MASS OF THE FIBERS, IMPREGNATING THE MASS WITH A BINDER COMPRISING AN AQUASOL OF DENSE, SUBSTANTIALLY DISCRETE, AMORPHOUS SILICA PARTICLES HAVING AN AVERAGE DIAMETER OF FROM 12 TO 20 MILLIMICRONS, A KAOLIN HAVING AN AVERAGE PARTICLES SIZE LESS THAN 10 MICORON, AND AN ALUMINUM FORMATE, THE WEIGHT PROPORTIONS OF THE SILICA OF THE SOL EXPRESSED AS SIO2, THE KAOLIN, AND THE ALUMINUM FORMATE EXPRESSED AS AL2O3 BEING IN THE RANGE OF 1:0.5 TO 10.0:0.1 TO .0025, AND THE BINDER HAVING A PH IN THE RANGE OF 2 TO 7.5 AND HAVING A SOLIDS CONTENT OF FROM 5 TO 30% BY WEIGHT, THE PROPORTION OF BINDER IN THE INORGANIC FIBERS BEING FROM 5 TO 50% BY WEIGHT ON THE DRY SOLIDS BASIS, DRYING THE BINDER-IMPREGNATED FIBERS AT A TEMPERATURE UP TO 260* C., AND THEN HEATING THE DRIED PRODUCT TO ABOVE 300* C.