What exactly is fiberglass?

June 09,2022

Today, there are literally countless composite materials, such as glass fiber, carbon fiber, aramid fiber, and so on. Today, I will discuss with you what is glass fiber? Some friends may not understand it, so you may choose Baidu for the first time, or you may choose to read this article.

Glass fiber is an inorganic non-metallic material with excellent performance. There are many kinds. Its main components are silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, calcium oxide, boron oxide, magnesium oxide, sodium oxide, etc. E-glass fiber (0% to 2% of sodium oxide, belonging to aluminoborosilicate glass), medium alkali glass fiber (8% to 12% of sodium oxide, belonging to boron-containing or boron-free soda lime silicate glass) And high alkali glass fiber (more than 13% sodium oxide, belongs to soda lime silicate glass). The advantages are good insulation, strong heat resistance, good corrosion resistance and high mechanical strength, while the disadvantages are brittleness and poor wear resistance.

 It is made of pyrophyllite, quartz sand, limestone, dolomite, borosite, borosite and seven kinds of ore raw materials, such as high temperature solute drawing, winding, weaving and other processes. The diameter of the monofilament is 3 to 20 microns. Equivalent to 1/20 of a hair, each bundle of fiber strands is composed of several white-heeled monofilaments. The density of glass fiber is 2.4-2.75g/CM3, the softening point is 500-600 degrees, and the boiling point is about 1000 ℃. When glass fiber is used as a reinforcing material for reinforced plastics, the biggest feature is its high tensile strength. The tensile strength is 6.3 to 6.9 g/d in the standard state and 5.4 to 5.8 g/d in the wet state. Good heat resistance, no effect on strength when the temperature reaches 300 ℃.

 It has excellent electrical insulation, is an advanced electrical insulation material, and is also used for thermal insulation materials and fire shielding materials. Generally only corroded by concentrated alkali, hydrofluoric acid and concentrated phosphoric acid.

Glass fiber can be used as a reinforcing material, electrical insulating material, thermal insulation material and circuit board substrate in composite materials, and it is a new material industry that the state encourages to develop. Widely used in petroleum, chemical, construction, environmental protection, aviation, national defense and other fields.

Glass fiber itself has the characteristics of good insulation, high temperature resistance and good corrosion resistance, so it is also used by 3D printing technology. 3D printing technology is a digital manufacturing technology that directly forms three-dimensional complex structures by simply adding materials layer by layer in two dimensions. Of course this is just one of the performance advantages of fiberglass. There are many more advantages of fiberglass waiting for us to discover!

According to the shape and length, glass fiber can be divided into continuous fiber, fixed-length fiber and glass wool. There are two kinds of glass fiber production processes: two-time forming - crucible drawing method, one forming - pool kiln drawing method.

Of course, everything has two sides, and glass fiber is no exception. Everyone must do safety protection when touching glass fiber. I often see friends on Zhihu asking what to do if glass fiber gets into the eyes? Everyone must pay attention to the accidental contact with the eyes, immediately rinse with plenty of water and seek medical advice. Be sure to wear appropriate protective clothing while in contact with fiberglass, do not inhale dust, and avoid contact with skin and eyes.

The main use of glass fiber The glass fiber reinforced plastic industry accounts for about 70%, and the construction industry also uses glass fiber cloth. is really everywhere. Due to its wide application in many fields, glass fiber has been paid more and more attention by people. The world's largest glass fiber production and consumption countries are mainly developed countries such as the United States and Europe, and their per capita glass fiber consumption is relatively high. Europe remains the largest region for glass fiber consumption, accounting for 35% of the global total. After years of development, my country's glass fiber enterprises have reached the upper level of product quality, and the proportion of deep-processed products has increased year by year. Compared with the international market, my country's glass fiber products have fewer varieties and specifications, and the application range is narrow, but these situations also show from another perspective that there is still a lot of market space in my country's glass fiber industry that has not been tapped, especially in some application fields, many fine The submarket is not even developed at all, maybe the next one to develop another market for fiberglass is you!

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