What types of asbestos are there?

Types of asbestos and their structure

Furthermore, the structure of these types of asbestos can also differ. There is bonded asbestos and non-bonded asbestos. Bonded asbestos materials are products in which asbestos is strongly processed. The asbestos fibers are then strongly bonded in another material, for example, asbestos cement corrugated sheets. Because the asbestos fibers are strongly processed in the product, the chance of fibers being released is small. However, this only applies to materials that are not damaged. When asbestos-containing material is damaged, bonded asbestos can also be released and cause serious diseases.

In loose or non-bonded asbestos material, asbestos is not strongly processed in another material. Non-bonded asbestos is the most dangerous, because in this structure the fibers are loosely positioned and can be released very quickly. Therefore, they can also be inhaled more quickly by people, which is very harmful to your health. Moreover, it also has a high asbestos content, approximately between 75% and 100%.

Below we would like to provide a handy overview of the different types of asbestos and their specifications: 

Chrysotile

White asbestos is generally the most commonly used. In the heyday of asbestos production, about 98% of the total world production was white asbestos. It is estimated that about 80% of all asbestos materials in Belgium and the Netherlands are made of chrysotile. It is also notable that it is the only type of asbestos that has fibers in the form of serpentine, another type of mineral. This means that chrysotile is the only type of asbestos with curled fibers, whereas the other types often have straight fibers. These curled fibers seem to be slightly less harmful than straight fibers, although asbestos should always be handled with caution due to the enormous health consequences it can have.

In 2010, the Institute for Asbestos Victims (IAS) concluded in a study that there is no medical or scientific support to possibly exclude chrysotile (white asbestos) in a worldwide ban on asbestos. It is also emphasized that every form of asbestos, including white asbestos, can promote cancer. Therefore, it is very important to be extremely careful with the use of asbestos.

Tremolite

Tremolite is one of the minerals from which asbestos was made when it was still being produced in large quantities. This gray asbestos was actually hardly used for industrial applications. It is estimated that tremolite accounts for only a few percent of the total asbestos production.

Tremolite or gray asbestos is – like blue and brown asbestos – an amphibole. This means that it does not consist of soft and flexible fibers, but of harder and crystalline fibers that are more harmful to health than the softer fibers.

Actinolite

Actinolite is a mineral, commonly known as radiolite, from which asbestos can be made. This green type of asbestos belongs to the amphiboles. In its unprocessed form, the material is not radioactive and mainly consists of fibers. That is why it was often used (or is used) to produce asbestos. Once the asbestos is processed, the green color of the actinolite is no longer visible and can only be further investigated through laboratory testing.

In fact, actinolite was hardly intended for industrial purposes. The material is much too hard and brittle to be used as insulation material, and it was also not very suitable for the use of asbestos cement. There were much better asbestos minerals available for this purpose. Therefore, green asbestos is not often found.

Anthophyllite

Anthophyllite is also known as yellow asbestos. The demand for yellow asbestos was (and is) quite small because other types of asbestos were much easier to extract and therefore were better alternatives. In the industry, it was also not often used to produce asbestos. Therefore, the chance that yellow asbestos is processed in materials in your home is very small.

Crocidolite

Crocidolite is a mineral and is commonly known as blue asbestos. Blue asbestos is considered the most dangerous form of asbestos. As the name suggests, the asbestos is blue in color.

For most applications, white asbestos is used. Only about 4% of all processed asbestos is blue asbestos. Crocidolite is mainly used as non-bonded, or unbound asbestos. It often involves insulating materials where the fibers are not stably fixed in the asbestos material. It is also often used in spray asbestos. That is also the reason why blue asbestos is considered the most dangerous of its kind.

Amosite

Amosite, also known as brown asbestos, was actually hardly used for producing asbestos. This is because amosite is relatively difficult to extract, or at least much more difficult than the most common asbestos minerals. In less than 1% of all asbestos found in Belgium and the Netherlands, amosite was used. Therefore, the chance that amosite is found in your home is very small.

An advantage of amosite is that it is an amphibole. This means that it does not consist of soft, but hard fibers, which do not easily disperse and are relatively easy to process.