Mineral wool, also known as
mineral fiber,
mineral cotton,
mineral fibre,
man-made mineral fibre (MMMF), and
man-made vitreous fiber (MMVF), is a general name for
fiber materials that are formed by spinning or
drawing molten
minerals (or "synthetic minerals" such as
slag and
ceramics). The nomenclature of these wool products can simply be done by putting the parent/raw material name in prefix to
wool like wool from glass is
glass wool, wool from rock is
stone wool and so on. Specific mineral wool products are
stone wool and
slag wool. Europe also includes
glass wool which, together with
ceramic fiber, are completely man-made fibers. Applications of mineral wool include
thermal insulation (as both
structural insulation and
pipe insulation, though it is not as fire-resistant as
high-temperature insulation wool),
filtration,
soundproofing, and
hydroponic growth medium.