Railways

Saint-Gobain Quartz is for more than 75 years a leading supplier of Micaver ®  in the railways industry. Micaver is a mica-glass insulating material with many applications in the rail sect or such as electrical insulators. They are produced by over-moulding metallic inserts and installed at various places in rolling stock.

The scope of application is large ranging from rheostatic components for brakes, heating elements, electrical cable fixtures to converter environment.

Micaver® has a very long life cycle, reducing maintenance costs for the railways companies. Micaver is used in locomotives, high speed trains, tramways and metros. It is rolling on all continents and has been selected by the most famous OEMs such as Alstom, Bombardier, Hyunday, CAF, Talgo, Stadler or Ansaldobreda.

Micaver® compounds holds a priviledged position among the wide variety of materials available. They are positionned between plastics and ceramics in terms of temperature resistance, have the ability to be moulded like plastics, have the impact strength of plastics, have the durability, UV resistance and fire resistance of ceramics. 

Saint-Gobain Quartz offers a high temperature grade called Micaver HT; it can be used at higher temperature up to 700°C and its color is white.