ABSTRACT
The Greeks and Romans later in history found additional applications for asbestos as lamp wicks and recognized that a soiled asbestos woven cloth could get a quick cleaning by being thrown into the fireplace. Although asbestos continued to be used in such applications up to and during the Industrial Revolution, it was only in modern times that an asbestos industry evolved. Although the various asbestos minerals are all hydrated fibrous silicates, they differ in their chemical composition, crystalline structure, fiber dimensions, and chemical properties. Thus, they share certain properties to varying degrees, but each has distinctive properties. During the period from 1935 to the mid-1970s in the US, asbestos, largely amosite and chrysotile, individually or in blends was extensively applied to building structural members, ceilings, walls, and on the thermal systems within the building to provide thermal insulation and fireproofing.
