Bespoke Casting
Bespoke Casting is used in many of the process involved with and related to Fibreglass. Check out the fact sheet below about the many ways that Bespoke Casting is used within the Fibreglass industryBespoke Casting & Fibreglass
fibreglass (or fibreglass) is a type of fibre reinforced plastic where the reinforcement fibre is specifically glass fibre. The glass fibre may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet (called a chopped strand mat), or woven into a fabric. The plastic matrix may be a thermosetting plastic- most often epoxy, polyester resin- or vinylester, or a thermoplastic.The glass fibres are made of various types of glass depending upon the fibreglass use. These glasses all contain silica or silicate, with varying amounts of oxides of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes boron. To be used in fibreglass, glass fibres have to be made with very low levels of defects.
fibreglass is a strong lightweight material and is used for many products. Although it is not as strong and stiff as composites based on carbon fibre, it is less brittle, and its raw materials are much cheaper. Its bulk strength and weight are also better than many metals, and it can be more readily molded into complex shapes. Applications of fibreglass include aircraft, boats, automobiles, bath tubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic tanks, water tanks, roofing, pipes, cladding, casts, surfboards, and external door skins.
Other common names for fibreglass are glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) or GFK (from German: Glasfaserverstärkter Kunststoff). Because glass fibre itself is sometimes referred to as "fibreglass", the composite is also called "fibreglass reinforced plastic." This article will adopt the convention that "fibreglass" refers to the complete glass fibre reinforced composite material, rather than only to the glass fibre within it.
Glassfibre a History
Glass fibres have been produced for centuries, but mass production of glass strands was discovered in 1932 when Games Slayter, a researcher at Owens-Illinois accidentally directed a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and produced fibres. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933. Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented "fibreglas" (one "s") in 1936. Originally, fibreglas was a glass wool with fibres entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator, especially at high temperatures.A suitable resin for combining the "fibreglass" with a plastic to produce a composite material, was developed in 1936 by du Pont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamid's resin of 1942. Peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fibreglass and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic. This reduced to insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Confusingly, many glass fibre composites continued to be called "fibreglass" (as a generic name) and the name was also used for the low-density glass wool product containing gas instead of plastic.
Ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937, but did not proceed further at the time due to the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 Russia was reported to have constructed a passenger boat of plastic materials, and the United States a fuselage and wings of an aircraft. The first car to have a fibre-glass body was a 1946 prototype of the Stout Scarab, but the model did not enter production.
Glassfibre Production
The process of manufacturing fibreglass is called pultrusion. The manufacturing process for glass fibres suitable for reinforcement uses large furnaces to gradually melt the silica sand, limestone, kaolin clay, fluorspar, colemanite, dolomite and other minerals to liquid form. It is then extruded through bushings, which are bundles of very small orifices (typically 5–25 micrometres in diameter for E-Glass, 9 micrometres for S-Glass). These filaments are then sized (coated) with a chemical solution. The individual filaments are now bundled in large numbers to provide a roving. The diameter of the filaments, and the number of filaments in the roving, determine its weight, typically expressed in one of two measurement systems, yield, or yards per pound (the number of yards of fibre in one pound of material; thus a smaller number means a heavier roving). Examples of standard yields are 225yield, 450yield, 675yield.tex, or grams per km (how many grams 1 km of roving weighs, inverted from yield; thus a smaller number means a lighter roving). Examples of standard tex are 750tex, 1100tex, 2200tex.These rovings are then either used directly in a composite application such as pultrusion, filament winding (pipe), gun roving (where an automated gun chops the glass into short lengths and drops it into a jet of resin, projected onto the surface of a mold), or in an intermediary step, to manufacture fabrics such as chopped strand mat (CSM) (made of randomly oriented small cut lengths of fibre all bonded together), woven fabrics, knit fabrics or uni-directional fabrics.
Glassfibre Applications
fibreglass is an immensely versatile material due to its light weight, inherent strength, weather-resistant finish and variety of surface textures.The development of fibre-reinforced plastic for commercial use was extensively researched in the 1930s. It was of particular interest to the aviation industry. A means of mass production of glass strands was accidentally discovered in 1932 when a researcher at Owens-Illinois directed a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and produced fibres. After Owens merged with the Corning company in 1935, Owens Corning adapted the method to produce its patented "fibreglas" (one "s"). A suitable resin for combining the "fibreglas" with a plastic was developed in 1936 by du Pont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamid's of 1942. Peroxide curing systems were used by then.
During World War II, fibreglass was developed as a replacement for the molded plywood used in aircraft radomes (fibreglass being transparent to microwaves). Its first main civilian application was for the building of boats and sports car bodies, where it gained acceptance in the 1950s. Its use has broadened to the automotive and sport equipment sectors. In some aircraft production, fibreglass is now yielding to carbon fibre, which weighs less and is stronger by volume and weight.
Advanced manufacturing techniques such as pre-pregs and fibre rovings extend fibreglass's applications and the tensile strength possible with fibre-reinforced plastics.
fibreglass is also used in the telecommunications industry for shrouding antennas, due to its RF permeability and low signal attenuation properties. It may also be used to conceal other equipment where no signal permeability is required, such as equipment cabinets and steel support structures, due to the ease with which it can be molded and painted to blend with existing structures and surfaces. Other uses include sheet-form electrical insulators and structural components commonly found in power-industry products.
Because of fibreglass's light weight and durability, it is often used in protective equipment such as helmets. Many sports use fibreglass protective gear, such as goaltenders' and catchers' masks.