Coating of Saturating Durablanket 2600

[ToolSteel]

Firstly, thanks for the pointers on making a substitute for ITC-100. Earlier today, I bought six pounds of zircopax and five pounds of kaolin. It should be WAY more than I need.
I'd like some input on ways to use this solution. I know Fiberfrax makes Moist Pak-D, which appears to be a ceramic fiber mat saturated with a coating material. This appeals to me because it would seem to be easier to put in place and extremely durable. So here's my question: What if I were to soak Durablanket 2600 in a zircon/kaolin/water slurry, then sort of "plaster" it in place? Would this have a different insulating-reflective effect than using the same material as a topcoat?
On another note, I've been talking to someone who's sold ceramic insulating materials for decades and he says compressing a ceramic blanket actually makes it more effective as an insulator. Seems counter-intuitive but he seems to know what he was talking about. Any ideas?
ToolSteel

[pkrankow]

I bought 1 pound of zircopax, and have most of it left...

Packing wool makes it more like a brick, which is counter productive. Take a 1 inch piece of material, and compress it to 1/2 inch. There is less gaps in the material, so it is going to conduct heat faster. The thickness is also less, so there is a steeper thermal gradient.

Now, is he arguing take 2 inches and pack it into 1 inch, vs 1 inch? I don't know in that case, but 8# wool is pretty stiff and hard to compress already. 2 inches packed into 1 inch is not going to perform the as good as 2 inches fitted properly in my opinion, for the same reasons I stated for compressing 1 inch to 1/2 inch. This is my opinion, I do not have data to back this up.

Now, this stuff does pack. You can take a piece of it, roll it and pack it into a crack tight as a physical barrier, such as around the burner flare for a tight fit. It works well packed like that, but it is not acting as anything other than a physical barrier in that case.

Phil