Fuel tank insulation

[Paul Berg]

I know this comes up now and then, but I need to re-insulate my fuel tanks and am wondering what is the latest and greatest material people are using and what’s the source. Thanks

[Meira Adams]

Hey Paul. How did you manage to do it in the end ?
Because I'm in need myself now.

[Clark Richter]

I have been running my ship since 2010 with no insulation on my fuel tanks.  My headers are cermaic coated though and my engine cowling is tightly sealed.

[Jared Hartzell]

Summit Racing sells a heatshield product designed for fuel tanks. I'm still running the OEM ones but maybe @Robin Scalzo or @Chris Breja can help you source the material.

[Robin Scalzo]

Rotorway used 3M4014

[Graeme Smith]

This from Ai .....
Question .... Is this product ok for a Roto moulded fuel tanks on a helicopter

No, 3M 4014 is not recommended for use directly on roto-molded fuel tanks on a helicopter. While it is heavily utilized in aviation, its design, chemistry, and adhesion mechanism are fundamentally incompatible with this specific application. [1]

The primary reasons this material should not be applied to a roto-molded tank include:

1. Low Surface Energy (LSE) Adhesion Failure

• Roto-molded helicopter fuel tanks are typically manufactured from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE).
  
• Polyethylene is a Low Surface Energy (LSE) plastic, which inherently repels standard adhesives.
  
• 3M 4014 features a standard pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive layer engineered primarily to grip thin sheet metals (like aluminum or stainless steel aircraft skin). Without complex surface treatments (like flame or corona treatment) or specialized LSE primers, 3M 4014 will quickly peel off due to a lack of molecular bonding
  

[Jared Hartzell]

The adhesion works fine for the application over many years, can always apply additional adhesive if necessary. I wouldn't say that's a reason not to use the product. Also, as many people are now starting to use AI-based LLM's, please cite the source/model and the sources it gathered the data from.