What do You Know about Fiberglass cloth?

What do You Know about Fiberglass cloth?

What is fiberglass cloth made of?
Glass fiber cloth take glass ball or waste glass as raw materials, which is made from high temperature melting, wire drawing, winding, weaving and so on. Its diameter of monofilament are a few microns to about 20 microns, which is equivalent to 1/20-1/5 of a hair silk, and each bundle of fiber is composed of hundreds of or even thousands of monofilament.

What are the characteristics of glass fiber cloth?
1. It has weather fastness and can be used for -196 ℃~300 ℃.
2. It is noncohesive and not easy to adhere to any substance.
3. It has chemical corrosion resistance that means it can resist strong acid, strong alkali, aqua regia and a variety of organic solvents.
4. Its friction coefficient is low, so it is the best choice for oil-free self-lubricating.
5. Its transmittance can up to 6~13%.
6. It has high insulation performance, and is anti-ultraviolet, anti-static.
7. It has high strength and good mechanical properties.

What is the role of fiberglass cloth?
Someone asked what is the role of fiberglass cloth in the end? Like the house that made of cement and steel structure, the role of fiberglass cloth is just like reinforcing steel that plays a reinforcing role in FRP.

Where can fiberglass cloth be used?
Most of glass fiber cloth is used for hand layer up products. Glass fiber reinforced woven roving is mainly used in the hull, storage tanks, cooling towers, ships, vehicles, tanks, building materials. In industry, fiberglass cloth is mainly used for heat insulation, fireproof, flame retardant. The material absorbs a lot of heat when burned and can prevent the flame and isolating the air.

What are the categories of fiberglass cloth?
1. According to the composition: E-glass, C-glass, A-glass (classification from the alkali metal oxide composition in fiberglass). Of course, there are other classifications that are sort by different component. But varieties are too many, and we do not list one by one.
2. According to the manufacturing process: crucible drawing and pool kiln drawing.
3. According to varieties: There are plied yarn, direct yarn, and Jet yarn.
In addition, we can differentiate them from the diameter of single fiber, Tex, twist, the type of treating compound. The classification of fiberglass cloth is connected with fiber yarn. Besides the above, the way of classification also includes: weaving method, gram weight, amplitude and so on.

What is the difference between glass fiber cloth and glass?
The difference of main material in glass fiber cloth and glass is small. Because the products have different requirements for material, there are some differences in the formula. The content of silica in flat glass is about 70–75%, while it is below 60% in glass fiber. Glass is inorganic material through high-temperature melting (more than 800℃, daily glass is generally melted in 1100℃). It will not undergo chemical changes below the softening point. Above softening point, it only can be softened, melted or decomposed, and there will be no burning phenomenon. As for glass fiber cloth, pulling the glass into very fine glass silks make they have good softness. The glass is spun into yarn and then woven into a fiberglass cloth. The glass fiber is very fine and its surface area of unit mass is very large, so the temperature resistance performance has decreased. It is like that a candle can melt a thin copper wire.
However, the glass does not burn. The combustion we can see is actually the resin material that is coated on the surface of the fiberglass cloth to improve its properties or the attached impurities. Pure glass fiber cloth and fiberglass coated with high-temperature coating are possible to make refractory clothing, fire-resistant gloves, and refractory blankets. But if you touch the skin directly, the broken fiber is very irritating to the skin and cause itch.

What is the difference between fiberglass cloth and FRP?
Fiberglass cloth is the material of FRP products, and FRP is actually a kind of composite plastic. REP is composited by glass fiber and resin, curing agent, accelerator and other materials through a variety technics, and is cured in the end.

What should we do if the fiberglass getting on the clothes or body accidentally?
General glass fiber’s diameter is 9-13 microns. The glass fiber floating that diameter is below 6 microns can be directly into the lung tube, which will cause respiratory diseases. So we need to pay special attention. Now, the 6-micron fiberglass generally is imported. Professional masks must be worn for production operations. Because of frequent contact, it will be sucked into the lungs and cause pneumoconiosis. If the body is stained with glass fiber, the skin will itch or be allergic, but it generally will not cause serious problems. A man with sensitive skin may appear red dots. It is allergic phenomenon, and eating some anti-allergy medicine will be fine.
It is difficult to clear if the glass fiber adheres to clothes. We can slap a few more times in windy places. After washing and drying, beating cloth with branches will be more helpful.