Sep 26, 2026
How to Write a Nano Insulation Board RFQ: The Eight Fields That Make Quotes Comparable
Why three quotes for the same board come back 30 percent apart — and how to write the inquiry so they do not. Eight fields that decide whether quotes are comparable at all: temperature gradient rather
Three quotes arrive. One is 30 percent below the other two, and nothing in any of them tells you why. Most buyers assume that gap is a pricing difference. Usually it is an assumption difference — three suppliers each filled in a different set of blanks you left open, then quoted against their own defaults.
An RFQ for microporous board is not an administrative step. It is the document that decides whether the quotes you get back can be compared at all. Eight fields do most of that work.
What an incomplete RFQ actually costs
When a specification leaves something open, the supplier does not stop and ask. They assume. And their assumption is rarely the one you would have written, because their default is shaped by what they make.
A supplier whose standard grade is dense will quote dense. A supplier who sells by weight will quote by weight. A supplier who tests conductivity at a low mean temperature will quote that figure. None of them is being dishonest — they are each answering a question you did not finish asking.
The cost shows up later, in one of three places: the quotes are not comparable so you pick on price and find out in service; the material arrives and fails incoming inspection because nobody specified what "acceptable" meant; or the first campaign runs hot and nobody can establish whose assumption was wrong.
Field 1 — The temperature gradient, not a single number
The single most common line in a weak RFQ is "service temperature: 1200 C." It is also the least useful.
What the supplier needs is where in the lining the board sits and what it sees on both faces: the working lining hot face temperature, the temperature at the interface the back-up layer actually reaches, and the shell temperature you are targeting. The thickness sizing method turns those into a thickness, but the point for the RFQ is narrower — give the interface temperature and the target shell temperature, and let the supplier propose the thickness against your stated thermal target.
If you cannot give the interface temperature, say so and give the campaign profile instead: working lining material, tapping temperature, heats per day, and whether the ladle cools between campaigns. That is enough for a competent supplier to work from, and it is far better than a single number that means nothing.
Field 2 — Geometry, including the parts that are not flat board
State:
Board dimensions and thickness, with the thickness tolerance you require. Plus or minus 1 mm on a 50 mm board is achievable; if you do not state it you will get whatever the supplier's standard is, and that tolerance propagates into the joint layout.
Whether any of the requirement is curved, tapered or cut-to-profile. Curved sections are a different manufacturing step with a different lead time, and a supplier who finds out after quoting will either re-quote or ship flat board and let your crew deal with it.
Overlay or anchoring method, since this determines whether the board needs to accept a fixing. A complete assembly is shown on the anchored ladle back-up assembly page if you need a reference configuration.
Field 3 — The grade and the property you are actually buying
Naming the grade is not the same as specifying the performance. State the grade and the property you will hold them to — normally thermal conductivity at a stated mean temperature, and permanent linear change at the temperature the board will see.
This is the field where the datasheet guide earns its keep: a conductivity figure without a mean temperature is not a data point, so whichever number you put in the RFQ, put the test condition next to it. If you write "thermal conductivity not exceeding X at Y C mean temperature," three suppliers will quote against the same yardstick and the price gap will mean something.
Where the interface temperature runs above 1000 C, SLM-1200 is the grade to specify. If you are unsure where the boundary falls for your campaign, the SLM-1000 vs SLM-1200 comparison guide sets out how the rating is defined — and if you would rather not decide alone, send the temperature profile and ask both grades to be quoted. Comparative quotes cost nothing and remove a decision you would otherwise make on incomplete information.
Field 4 — Quantity, and the unit you are buying in
Board can be quoted per square metre, per kilogram, or per piece, and the three are not convertible without the density and thickness. This is where most price comparisons quietly break.
State the unit you want the quote in. If you buy by area, ask for the density that the weight-based figure implies so you can check the arithmetic. If you buy by weight, do the reverse. Convert every quote to cost per installed square metre at your actual thickness before comparing — it takes five minutes and it is the only comparison that survives contact with the invoice.
Also state the quantity basis: net installed area, or net plus a cutting-waste allowance, and whose risk the waste is. A quote that excludes waste looks cheaper and is not.
Field 5 — Packaging, moisture protection and delivery schedule
Microporous board is hygroscopic. Board that ships without an effective vapour barrier arrives carrying water, and that water becomes steam in the first heat-up — a problem that looks exactly like a rushed dry-out and arrives before anyone has done anything wrong.
So specify packaging in the RFQ, not just the Incoterm: sealed barrier, palletised, desiccant if the transit is long or humid, and a stated maximum moisture content at dispatch. The container loading guide covers what a properly packed container looks like and how much actually fits, which also lets you sanity-check a freight quote.
On schedule: ask for the standard lead time and the realistic one in peak season. They are different numbers and only one of them matters when you need the material.
Field 6 — The documents that must come with the quote
Not with the shipment — with the quote. This is the field most often omitted, and it is the one that makes the other seven enforceable.
Ask for:
A certificate of analysis template showing measured values with a batch number, not a restatement of the specification range
The conductivity test report, naming the laboratory and the method
The standard each test was run to
Retain sample policy and how long samples are kept
Asking up front costs nothing and changes the supplier list. A supplier who will not send a COA template before the order will not send meaningful data after it. The full set of questions is in the supplier audit checklist; the RFQ version is just the subset you want in writing before money moves.
Field 7 — Acceptance criteria, agreed before the first shipment
Decide now what happens if the material arrives out of specification, because deciding after the container lands is how claims turn into arguments.
State: what gets measured on arrival, by whom, against which tolerance, and what the remedy is — replacement, credit, or rejection. Tie it to the inspection protocol so both sides are looking at the same checklist. If your plant has no written protocol, the one in the incoming inspection article is a reasonable starting point and you can attach it to the RFQ directly.
One clause worth adding: retain samples from the delivered batch, sealed and labelled, kept until the first campaign is complete. It costs a corner of a storeroom and it is the difference between an argument and a measurement.
Field 8 — How the trial order is structured
If this is a new supplier, do not structure the first order as a full fleet conversion. Structure it as a trial with a defined question.
Specify: how many ladles or how many square metres, which units, what gets measured (shell temperature before and after, at the same point in the cycle), over how many heats, and what result would justify the next order. A trial with no defined success criterion cannot fail, which means it also cannot prove anything.
Also say what happens after — price for the follow-on volume, and whether the trial price holds. A supplier quoting a trial generously and a follow-on volume sharply is telling you how much they want the qualification.
The template
Copy this into your RFQ and fill it in:
Application: vessel, position in the lining, existing back-up material being replaced
Temperatures: working lining hot face, interface temperature, target shell temperature
Geometry: board size, thickness and thickness tolerance; curved or cut sections; anchoring method
Grade and properties: grade, plus conductivity at a stated mean temperature and permanent linear change at service temperature
Quantity: net area and waste allowance, stated in the unit you want quoted
Packaging: barrier, palletisation, moisture limit at dispatch
Delivery: standard and peak-season lead time, Incoterm, port
Documents: COA with batch number, conductivity test report with laboratory and method, test standards
Acceptance: what is measured on arrival, tolerance, remedy, retain sample arrangement
Trial: scope, measurements, duration in heats, success criterion, follow-on price
Three mistakes that quietly cost money
Asking for price before defining the unit. Every quote will come back in whatever unit suits the quoter, and you will compare numbers that measure different things.
Writing "1200 C" instead of the gradient. You will get board sized to survive 1200 C rather than board sized to keep your shell cool, and those are different products.
Not asking for documents until after the order. By then the supplier has already been selected, and the request has become a favour rather than a condition.
None of these are exotic. They are simply the fields that get skipped when an RFQ is written in a hurry and reused for three years.
Where to start
If you have a temperature profile and a shell-temperature target, send those two and we will propose a grade, a thickness and a quantity against your geometry — no obligation, and it gives you a properly specified baseline to compare other quotes against. Start with the high-strength nano insulation boards page for the property curves, or send the RFQ fields above and we will fill in what we can.
Questions on grades, geometry or a specific shell-temperature target: sales@slmthermal.com
