01 Feedstock
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Mineral wool.
Mineral wool · Melted rock or glass spun into A1 batts — the default non-combustible insulation of codes.
Making Mineral wool is a chain: feedstock, conversion (Slag wool 19th c.; glass wool 1930s), forming, heat, finish, install.
Skip a step and the properties chapter is describing a different object.
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Mineral wool.
Slag wool 19th c.; glass wool 1930s
Cast, spin, weave, sinter, foam, laminate or coat — the step that sets anisotropy.
Temper, vulcanise, calcine or dry: skip it and the datasheet is fiction.
Coatings, sizings, facers, galvanizing, anodising, painting.
Fasteners, adhesives, DFT, compression, dryness — site quality is a material property.
Virgin route around US / Germany / Denmark.
Recycling exists but quality or energy often disappoints.
High-spec grades leave the commodity mill.
Coatings, sprays, casts — the factory is sometimes a jobsite.
Feedstock to installed product.
Energy in, class out.
Melting/softening softens ~1000 °C class (stone); conductivity λ ~0.032–0.040 W/m·K typical batts.
Moisture, UV, chlorides, alkalis or oxygen — pick the one that actually kills Mineral wool.
Fire class A1 is a starting letter, not a wall rating.
Process energy and scrap quality belong in the carbon passport, not in a footnote.
The low-λ organic foam of fridges and buildings — excellent insulation, a fire design problem unless PIR and coverings are honest.
Overall 46 📦A sealed vacuum sandwich — λ around 0.004–0.008 W/m·K until the envelope leaks.
Overall 44 🕯️Latent-heat packets that flatten temperature swings — not a substitute for λ insulation, a complement.
Overall 36