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www.mineralgallery.co.za Minerals A-E |
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Asbestos |
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Name
Asbestos
Chemistry
Mg3Si2O5(OH)4
Uses
Mineral specimen and industrial use
Color
Gray brown, gray, white, green, red, yellow, brownish, colorless
Hardness
2.5
Specific gravity
2.8
Crystals
Orthohombric
Accompanied by:
Quartz
Fracture
Fibrous
Luster
Silky to Resinous
Cleavage
Distinct
Streak
White
Similar to:
Amosite, Crocidolite, Tremolite, Actinolite
Asbestos is not a mineralogical definition but a commercial name given to a group of minerals that possess high tensile strength, flexibility, resistance to chemical and thermal degradation, and electrical resistance.
Six types of Asbestos are
amosite includes the asbestiform varieties of the amphibole minerals
cummingtonite and
grunerite,
crocidolite (asbestiform variety of the mineral riebeckite),
tremolite (asbestiform variety of the mineral tremolite),
actinolite (asbestiform variety of the mineral actinolite), and asbestiform anthophyllite. Other amphiboles can occur in asbestiform varieties, but these minerals have generally not been used in commercial products and are often not cited in the regulatory literature. .
Although each asbestos mineral has its own unique properties, all six asbestos minerals share the following additional physical properties
Asbestos is fibrous, a thermal insulator, heat resistant, chemical resistant, high tensile strength.
