IN A WORLD OF SHORTCUTS, WE DON'T™
Industrial Heat Resistant Curtains
Heat Barriers for Every Industrial Application, from 500°F Paint Bake Ovens to 3000°F Foundry Openings
Industrial heat resistant curtains from Steel Guard Safety contain radiant and convective heat at oven doors, furnace openings, foundry aisles and wherever hot processes sit next to people. We manufacture every one to size in our own facility in South Holland, Illinois, in coated fiberglass and silica grades spanning 500°F to 3000°F.
The right barrier depends on three things: the format your opening needs, your actual operating temperature, and what the curtain has to survive besides heat. This page routes you to the right one.
Start With Format
Before material, decide how the barrier has to behave at the opening:
| Format | How It Works | Right When |
|---|---|---|
| High Temperature Curtains | Solid panels that hang, track open, or mount fixed | You need full coverage, an isolated zone, or a barrier that stays put |
| High Temperature Strip Curtains | Overlapping vertical strips that push open and recover | Product or personnel pass through continuously without opening anything |
The difference is simply whether anything moves through the opening. If a forklift, a conveyor, or an operator has to pass through it all shift, that’s a strip curtain. If the opening is closed off or accessed occasionally, a panel is the better barrier.
If the hazard is welding rather than process heat, that’s a different product line — see our Welding Curtains and Welding Blankets ranges.
Then Find Your Operating Temperature
Process type predicts temperature more reliably than equipment type does, and the split is clean. Coating, drying and curing processes nearly all run under 500°F. Heat treating processes nearly all run above 1000°F. Almost nothing lives in between.
| Process | Typical Operating Temperature | Material Range |
|---|---|---|
| Drying ovens | 150–400°F | Coated fiberglass |
| Paint bake | 250–400°F | Coated fiberglass |
| Adhesive and composite cure | 250–400°F | Coated fiberglass |
| E-coat cure | 350–375°F | Coated fiberglass |
| Powder coat cure | 350–450°F | Coated fiberglass |
| Bakery and food processing | 300–500°F | Call Us |
| Tempering | 300–1200°F | Depends on set point — call us |
| Stress relief | 1100–1250°F | Silica |
| Annealing, steel | 1300–1600°F | Silica |
| Hardening and austenitizing | 1500–1700°F | Silica |
| Brazing | 1800–2100°F | Silica |
| Forge and billet heating | 2100–2300°F | Silica |
| Iron and steel pouring | 2500°F and above | Silica — call us |
Tempering is the one process that straddles the range. Set points vary widely by alloy and specification, so give us your actual operating temperature rather than the equipment’s rated maximum.
Understanding Temperature Ratings
Almost every temperature rating in this industry describes the base fabric, not the finished product. A coated fabric is a substrate plus a coating, and they fail at very different temperatures. E-glass fiberglass holds to about 1000°F, but the silicone coating on it stops at 500°F and PTFE decomposes around 660°F. Amorphous silica is a different material entirely, holding 1800°F continuous with a 3000°F melting point.
That gap is why a curtain can honestly be described as 1000°F material and still carry a 500°F service rating. Steel Guard publishes the continuous rating of the limiting layer in each build and names which layer it is. If a barrier you’re comparing is advertised well above 1000°F, ask the supplier for the standalone maximum operating temperature of the coating, separate from the base fabric.
What Else Does It Have to Survive?
Temperature sets the material floor. These conditions often decide the final choice:
- Molten splash — requires silica. Coated fiberglass will burn through where molten metal contacts it.
- Radiant heat and energy loss — calls for an aluminized reflective face that returns radiant energy to the source.
- Surface contamination — silicone migrates and causes fisheyes in cured finishes. Coating lines need a PTFE build with no silicone content.
- Heavy traffic and abrasion — heavier silicone coated fabric outlasts lighter or specialty materials where the failure mode is mechanical rather than thermal.
- Chemical exposure — wash, pretreat and plating stages need chemical resistance more than heat resistance.
Built to Your Opening
Every curtain we make is manufactured to your dimensions. We regularly build 3′ x 4′ batch oven doors and conveyor slots as well as openings 10′ wide and larger, sewn with stainless steel thread on every high temperature build. Fiberglass and PTFE threads cap at 500–600°F, which would put the thread at the same limit as the fabric.
Tell us the opening dimensions, your operating temperature, what passes through, and what else the curtain has to survive. Call 1-800-347-8368 or request a quote online.
Industrial Heat Shield Curtains
