Are Fiberglass Swimming Pools Valuable?

Fiberglass swimming pools are often a better value than poured concrete pools for people who using an in-ground swimming pool for a long time. Although the prefabricated fiberglass material is more expensive than concrete or vinyl liners in upfront installation, over time they can save homeowners money in chemical treatments, cleaning, energy costs, and repair. After considering how the pool is used, weather, soil type, and design requirements, many consumers are pleased with pools made from fiberglass.

Unlike traditional poured concrete, fiberglass swimming pools come as a pre-formed shell and are set in an excavated site. This gives them the benefit of quick installation. The interior fiberglass is sealed by the manufacturer to create a smooth, nonporous surface, which doesn't interact with the water or affect the pool's chemistry. It uses fewer harsh chemicals and requires less frequent cleaning than a concrete pool. 

Fiberglass swimming pools save money in other kinds of maintenance as well. Their structure doesn't develop cracks as easily as concrete, so they don't need to be resurfaced, replastered, or grouted. Even vinyl liners, which don't crack, eventually wear down and must be replaced. Fiberglass pools are particularly popular on the west coast, where earthquakes are a frequent occurrence, because they bend with the ground instead of splitting or popping. They can even withstand stray tree roots better than vinyl-lined pools.

Even with their benefits, fiberglass swimming pools made with fiberglass chopped strand mat aren't the right choice for everyone. They come in prefabricated styles, so while there are a wide variety of depths, shapes, and colors, they cannot be fully customized like concrete or vinyl. Fiberglass isn't ideal for certain cold-temperature climates, where homeowners must "weather" their pools by emptying them for several months, because the pools are designed to be filled to a minimum level at all times to keep the pressure inside and outside the wall even. They are not susceptible to damage from ground frost, however.

For people who are concerned about affecting the resale value of their home, it is even possible to dig up fiberglass swimming pools and move them to a new house or sell them. Most buyers are happy with a backyard that comes with a pool, however, especially one made of fiberglass, which has such low maintenance.

What is FRP (fiber reinforced polymer)

FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) is commonly acronym in the composite industry, it refers to the structure of the fiber-reinforced, such as glass fibers, carbon fibers, or aramid fibers plastics and polymeric material.

Fiberglass can also be used as an alternative term "composite." Such as, "This boat is made of fiberglass," instead of saying, "This boat is made of composite material."

In most cases, construction of fiberglass products using thermosetting resins, such as polyester, vinyl ester or epoxy, but they can also be used thermoplastic resins such as polypropylene, PET, PEI, PEEK, PPS and so on.

Reinforcing fibers isn’t only a various types (glass fiber, carbon fiber, or aramid), but also there is a various of patterns of fiber. The fibers can be discontinuous, for example, in the chopped strand mat, or used in the gun roving. Fibers may be continuous straight end roving, which is commonly used in filament winding and pultrusion.

The other structural fibers include woven roving and stitching. Weaving like as other textile, and intertwined with structural fibers.  The sewing and fiber layers stitched together.

Fibers and fabrics, stacked together to form a laminate. Final production of glass fiber reinforced plastic composite products.

Several problems of fiberglass mat

What is fiberglass mat?

Fiberglass mat is defined by glass fiber filaments woven into a mesh, curing resin adhesive made of non-woven fabric. Its main characteristics are: smooth surface, good dimensional stability, good uniformity, thermal strength, mold.

What made of the fiberglass mat?

Glass fiber mat, generally divided into surface mat, continuous mat and chopped strand mat. Surface mat: general is to improve the surface effect and reduce the woven surface impact. Which is made of injection by a fiber precursor; continuous mat: molding way is made by injection of continuous fiber strand; chopped strand mat: forming way is to spray from short strands of fiber;

What is the difference between surface mat, continuous mat and chopped strand mat?

Surface mat is generally used to increase the surface effect, reducing the impact on the surface wove; the difference between continuous mat and chopped strand mat, as the name suggests, shaping the way that is used short filaments or continuous filaments. Continuous mat is generally used as a diversion material. Chopped strand mat will use a little in the hand lay-up process that to increase the interlayer strength, less useful.

How to get fiberglass stitched mat?

Fiberglass stitched mat is cut the fiberglass to a certain length, it’s a superior mat, it’s made through sub-wire, velvet, and acupuncture and other processes. Which fire insulation, noise, air purification and other properties.

Fiberglass chopped strand mat products characteristics

Fiberglass chopped strand mat non-directional distribution, evenly distributed, with excellent mechanical properties. Chopped strands non-directional uniform make up roving lack that only  latitude and longitude to the distribution, but also significantly improves the interlaminar shear strength of glass fiber reinforced plastic products, good cover mold performance, suitable the mold cavity that with complex shape. And good resin-impregnated, it can be arbitrarily cut, easy to construction. Good absorbing resin capability, products smooth appearance.

Chopped strand mat main areas of application and associated data analysis.

Car roof Market: mainly low weight emulsion, powders binder, gram weight range from 80-250 G / M2, mainly on behalf of clients Antun Salim Group, Italy TARGLASS sales of Fiat, the Korean market, the Japanese market (Honda, Toyota and other ). Our domestic mainly clients is Jiangsu XIENUO. More detail please see Annex that is chopped strand mat customer accounting.

Box-type vehicles (including refrigerated trucks) market: mainly manufactured for box-type vehicles plates: customers include VETRORESINA, VETROGEL, CHO, Jinan ZHONGJI etc. See Annex chopped strand mat customer accounting. More detail please see Annex that is chopped strand mat customer accounting.

Common hand lay-up application market: hand lay-up process is the most widely used market of use the chopped strand mat in china and abroad. The main demand from 225-600 G / M2 powder, emulsion, the Europe need more emulsion, and other markets as a powder-based.

Transparent tile market: primarily 225-600 G / M2 E glass csm powder, it need fully transparent. There is a large market in domestic, mainly in Jiangsu, Beijing vicinity. Abroad mainly in the Middle East, Indonesia and Thailand that has great amount.

Chopped strand mat is made of continuous glass fiber strand that was cut short 50 mm length, then non-directional evenly distributed, and supported by powder polyester binder (or emulsion binder). that made to E-glass or C-glass fiber woven products. Chopped strand mat already used in foreign countries, and more generally, they are widely involved.

The common fiberglass chopped strand mat products

Here are some common products which uses of fiberglass chopped strand mat and glass fiber composite

Aircraft: with high strength to weight ratio, glass fiber is ideal composite for airplane fuselage, propeller and high-performance jet nose cone.

The structure of Car and its bumpers, from cars to heavy commercial construction equipment, truck bed, even armored vehicles. All of these parts which are constantly exposed to extreme weather and often subject to wear and tear.

Boat: 95% of the boat is made of fiberglass, because of its ability to withstand cold and heat. Its corrosion resistance, there aren’t any pollution to salt water and atmospheric.

Steel: steel bridge decking substituted by glass fiber, it has the strength of steel, while resisting corrosion. For a wide span suspension bridge, if made of steel, they will collapse because of their weight. This has proved that the fiberglass guardrail stronger than their steel counterparts. From water and electricity transmission tower to the street light pole and street manhole covers and so on, it’s widely used because its strength, light weight and durability.

Household fixtures: shower, laundry tub, hot tub, ladders, and fiber optic cables.

Other: Golf clubs and carts, snowmobiles, hockey sticks, play equipment, skis and ski poles, fishing rods, travel trailers, helmets, etc.

Effect of fiberglass chopped strand mat production line rolling segment for the product quality

Rolling is the last step in the production of chopped strand mat. It also has an important influence. Relatively early production line is used passive rolling, that is rolling friction.

This structure is simple, low cost of equipment, but there are rolling force vary widely, the line speed is proportional increased to the winding diameter, often causing winding skid, ends do not flush, rolls tight or relaxation inequality and so on. Which affect product quality.

Now most of roll device of chopped strand mat production lines have adopted the torque motor or inverter motor.

The key of roll device design is good grasp of the ratio of maximum tension and work gear. If simply choose the appropriate, it will have a good solution for these case, such as roll relaxation and the product ends are not flush. In addition, the tension can be adjustment for a certain degree. It’s applicable to the same production line with different sizes and types.

Fiberglass Composites Used to Replace Bridge Deck in Washington, D.C.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in Washington, D.C., was recently faced with the need to replace the 29th Street Bridge. Composite Advantage’s FiberSPAN™, a fiber-reinforced polymer bridge deck product, provided the DDOT with key advantages it couldn’t get with conventional material. Five lightweight, corrosion resistant FiberSPAN bridge deck panels were installed in just one day on a steel beam superstructure. 

One day later, the panels were bolted to shear studs that were welded to steel beams and added to the fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP) sidewalk. The new bridge crosses the original C&O canal that runs through Georgetown and is the area’s first fiberglass-reinforced vehicle bridge deck. With rusting steel rebar, crumbling concrete and a requirement to reduce dead load on old stone canal walls, the solution was to demand a lighter weight bridge deck solution. 

Replacing the bridge deck use fiberglass chopped strand mat would have to be done quickly due to logistics challenges associated with utility lines that ran beneath the bridge and crossed over gas, water, PEPCO and telecommunications lines.“This configuration was chosen because bridge depth was very restricted. The bridge had to clear tour boats using the canal but match the existing street level. Using longitudinal steel beams for high bending stiffness, we designed the FiberSPAN deck within an allowable depth of five inches and tested it to demonstrate its ability to support required truck loads,” said Scott Reeves, president of Composites Advantage.

Fiberglass Composites Create Sound Structures

Stanford University has a Bing Concert Hall. The hall’s 842 seats encircle the 3,200-square-foot stage, creating an intimate environment for both the audience and performers. Acoustic panels on the walls and ceiling, made from fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP) on top of steel-reinforced concrete, provide optimal sound in the hall and add a dramatic backdrop to performances. Ennead Architects designed the hall with input from Nagata Acoustics, an acoustical consulting firm. 

Kreysler & Associates, assisted in the design and provided the acoustic panels. “There were two major design factors we had to face: the acoustics requirements and the ease of construction,” says Greg Clawson, project manager for Ennead Architects. President of Kreysler & Associates, and his team developed a series of eight wall panels resembling sails that measured approximately 50 square feet each. They also provided a 127-foot cloud structure for the ceiling made of 80 individual panels. When we looked at the design it was obvious that the best material to use would be fiberglass reinforced polymer. 

Fiberglass chopped strand mat was strong enough to create sharp edges and complex shapes, allowing tight fitting joints with the precise density needed. Though FRP met most of the requirements, it was too light for the acoustic panels. They need to be heavy enough to efficiently reflect sound. “The heavier the reflecting material is, the wider the frequency range can be reflected from the surface,” says Dr. Yasuhisa Toyota, president and founder of Nagata Acoustics America. This enhances sound in the hall. To add weight, Kreysler & Associates cast reinforced concrete onto the back side of the molded single skin FRP panels. Once the concrete cured, the pre-assembled space frame was lowered onto the back and anchored into place, and only then were the panels removed from the mold, assuring they would be reassembled accurately during installation.

How to use the fiberglass cloth to repair the car

When you have to repair the body of your vehicle, you can use the fiberglass cloth to deal with many problems in different areas. Fiberglass cloth with correct application and hardening, the car body will look like new after painting. Although the body work seem complex and difficult, but it is actually quite easy. It takes a little patience, it may be a little messy, but you'll find that you can use glass fiber cloth easily fix your body.

Step 1 - Prepare the surface

You can’t start using the glass fiber cloth, until you are ready the surface to accept it. Start by using coarse sandpaper to sand the entire area and the surroundings. Until there is smooth to the touch, lose their luster.

Now, let's clean you just sanded area with a rag and acetone. It got rid of dirt and grease. If there are any traces of these, glass fibers are not bonded to the surface, it will be layered.

Step 2 – Cloth cutting

Using a utility knife to cut a layer of glass fiber cloth, the area needs to be repaired suitable size. You need to cut several layers, each layer of a relatively small until you have enough layers to fill the repaired area. Stacked together, the glass fiber cloth as a mat-like, and placed next to a few minutes.

Step 3 - mixed resin

Put the fiberglass cloth mixed with resin and hardener into bucket. Use the ratio indicated on the container. Put on a pair of latex gloves before mixing with the resin work, then mixing very thoroughly until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Step 4 – Use cloth

Now soak the smallest piece of glass fiber cloth into the resin mixture, until the color of the resin mixture no white areas shown. Apply this piece to the damaged area. Flattening this glass fiber cloth until it’s no bubbles.

You need to use each slightly larger piece of cloth, repeat this procedure, put one on top of the last. Each flatteners, until no residual air bubbles. You will finish with the largest piece of fiberglass cloth. Now place the glass fiber cloth to heal, at least overnight. Wait until it is completely hardened, and your fingers feel cool.

Step 5 – sanding

First, use fine sandpaper to repair fiberglass cloth. Sand lightly with the palm sander follow after. You need to keep grinding until the glass fiber area smooth, and finally painted.

Fiberglass products export data analysis from January to June in 2015

2015 January to June, China's fiberglass products exported to 180 countries, the United States still is the main fiberglass consuming country, accounting for exports of fiberglass chopped srand mat and products in mainland China the number of 18.41%. South Korea and Saudi Arabia, respectively 8.17% and 6.65% of total exports accounted for, as well as other major destinations United Arab Emirates, Japan, Turkey, India, Malaysia, Canada, Thailand and other countries and regions.

Glass fiber has become the construction, transportation, electronics, electrical, chemical, metallurgy, environmental protection, industry, new energy and other industries essential raw materials, especially in the field of mass consumption, consumer demand in Europe and a high proportion of fiberglass, is mainly used in sports equipment, small appliances and swimming pool boats and other fields.

On the domestic market, the glass industry is an oligopoly market, the first half of 2015 total domestic glass fiber exports 637,100, Granville Glass Group occupy a certain share.

According to each regional export volume, the first half of 2015, exports amounted to Zhejiang fiberglass is 202,300 tons, accounting for 31.76% of the total export volume. And it’s followed by Shandong, Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces. Respectively, 18.30% of the total export volume, 13.21 percent and 9.58 percent.

2015 January-June, with several typical products China Fiberglass class category as the example, fiberglass roving as basic products in the industry, exports account for a large advantage, the total amount of glass in the first place compared to other categories, approximately 273,900 tons. But it still down 4.9% compared with last year.

Seven performances of FRP products materials

First, it has lightweight and high strength. FRP density is between 1.4 and 2.2, only 1/4 of ordinary steel. But the strength is similar to the ordinary carbon steel , second only to high alloy steel. For example, FRP steel ladder (coal mine), FRP highway guardrail, fiberglass fishing rods, high jump with a pole, cruise ships and so on.

Second, It has good corrosion resistance. FRP has good resistance role for the air, water, general concentration of acid, alkali, salt, oils and solvents. Such as pressure vessels and pipelines, air handling units, central air conditioning units, equipment corrosion, cooling towers, dust purification tower, ion-exchange column and sanitary ware and so on which are used by the chemical properties.

Third, it has good thermal performance and Low thermal conductivity, which temperature is 0.3-0.4 kcal / m/degrees at room, which just the metal material 1 / 100-1 / 1000. It can be used for insulation materials, such as insulation casing.

Four, it has good electrical properties. It is Still good dielectric properties at high temperatures. And it has good microwave transmission, it has been widely used in the antenna radomes, cable tray, meter boxes, meter boxes and so on.

Fifth, the process performance is superior. According to the number of products, shape, quantity, technical requirements and use flexible options molding process; once molding, especially for a small number of complex shape, not molded products, more prominent superiority of his craft.

Six, it has good design. Flexibility to design products structure to meet the requirements, the fully choice of materials can meet product performance. Such as water pipes, you can select food-grade resin, to deliver drinking water, corrosion-resistant resin can also be used to transport chemicals, you can use E-glass fibers, made of high-pressure pipeline can transport fire-fighting water can also be used to add quartz sand made of sand stiffness of 10,000 ground heat.

Seven, colors can be adjusted, beautiful and practical. FRP by adding pigment (gel coat resin paste) or sprayed in the raw materials, etc., to make the ever-changing colors, beautiful and practical, do not fade. With the development of market economy, the progress of human society, and this is recognized in the world of "green products", it will be widely used in various fields, market prospects and great potential.

FRP pipe system

Today, although the corrosion resistance remains an important advantage, other unique advantages of FRP has led to accept the application of this material continue to increase, in which the corrosion resistance is not necessarily the main consideration.

This is very particularly evident for the large diameter pipe requirement. An example of this is that we provide a 1200 mm diameter casing 30X10 meter bridge construction, used in rivers and estuaries where bridges can be used as a pre-set length required pouring concrete piles.

FRP pipe has a special strength to weight ratio, because a pound of glass fiber stronger than steel pound. As a result, the tube has a high tensile strength and good shock and impact resistance. They also have excellent flow characteristics and a smooth finish similar to glass, and thus reduce material build-up and improve the transmission fluid.

The standard diameters of fiberglass tube can from 50mm to 2M, having a larger diameter are available upon request. There is also a series of fittings, such as flanges, elbows, T-shaped pieces and other accessories for easy installation.

The oven section of fiberglass chopped strand mat production equipment

Drying section is made of tunnel insulation and equipped with a conveyor belt. Drying cross section is heated by direct gas system. The dryer is divided into regions. Each district has a circulation fan and independent temperature control.

1.Conveyor

Belt conveyor is a special, the upper side of the stainless steel mesh, mesh belt by a series of ball bearing mounted roll support. Cleaning brush and clean the burner is mounted on the conveyor belt. And equipped a transfer guide and tensioning system.

2. Ventilation

Above and below of the upper belt installed special air distribution box for blowing and smoking.

They make the air on the surface of fiberglass chopped strand mat can be rational distribution and ventilation. It is evacuated by installing air filters.

The sport of each sector in the air is provided by the heavy-duty ventilation. Fans and air insufflation and suction pipes and boxes structure to make cleaning operations easier.

3. The exhaust air

In this session, the circulating air blower provides exchange.

4. Heater

Each section is equipped with its own gas burner. After the transfer material is dried, hot air sucked by the housing and thus return to the cycle. Fresh air through the filter pores.

5. The combustion and temperature control

Each burner is equipped with temperature regulation group.

Each group comprising: temperature regulation, maximum and minimum thermal conditions, combustion cycle timer

Flame control

Exhaust and combustion air predictable pressure control.

All of these aspects will be placed in a control panel.

6. Clean and inspect insulation

Drying tunnel made of iron U-shaped profile, covered with insulation board a sturdy frame composition, pore structure is not removable.

By planning the structure, we have considered the thermal expansion and the necessary provisions. So the insulation panels made of special iron tablets. They are filled with glass wool.

Along the sides of the oven, at the right distance, it is mounted inspection door.

Each oven is equipped with an opening, easy to clean and maintain.

New Epoxy Resin 250°F/120°C without Oven or Autoclave

Almost resin cure slowly or need heat. Now, NONA Composites will unveil its new R404/H18 resin system at CAMX 2015.  This new epoxy resin enables room temperature infusion or filament winding followed by a relatively fast (≈ 2-hr) cure without adding any heat (i.e., no oven no autoclave) or an even faster (15-30 min) heat-added cure (250°F/120°C) with no post-cure, to enable faster, larger, and more flexible composite processing for filament wound pressure vessels, marine structures, industrial composites, and even some lower-temperature aerospace composites.

New NONA R404/H18 epoxy resin offers curing and tooling flexibility for a wide range of structures,fiberglass chopped strand mat including large marine infusions and filament wound tanks for energy applications. 

A key application of this new system will be in filament wound tanks for compressed natural gas (CNG) storage and other alternative energy markets. In order to measure the material’s performance beyond standard testing, NONA Composites worked with HyPerComp Engineering Inc. to filament wind and burst test a small composite overwrapped pressure vessel.  An aluminum liner overwrapped with T700 carbon fiber and NONA R404/H18 resin was cured using a 2-hr heat-added cure cycle at 250°F/120°C but without post-cure. (Heat was added due to the aluminum liner heat sink.) The vessel was then burst according to standard in-house HyPerComp Engineering procedures.  The comparison of delivered fiber strength to that predicted by HyPerComp's computer finite element analysis (FEA) was 102%, demonstrating its successful performance in this standard test setup.  The next step is to build and burst test the same tank using a 15-min heated cure, as NONA Composites continues working with HyPerComp Engineering to evaluate R404/H18 epoxy’s performance with fiberglass-based filament wound vessels.

In addition to the work in filament wound structures, NONA Composites is demonstrating its R404/H18 epoxy in a 500 ft2 infused hybrid fiberglass and carbon structure. The company will showcase this part production in 2016 as a demonstration of the ability to fabricate larger components more rapidly without an oven or added heat.

The binder technology of fiberglass chopped strand mat

In this paper we just use the powder binders as example

Glass fiber distributes uniformly on the belt and combined with binder. Settlement segment need to keep clean and dry. The combination of the powder is composed of two powder adhesive applicator conduct, as well as a series of water without minerals (distilled water) spray composition.

The chopped strand mat, the upper and the lower part of both sides, gently spray with distilled water, the operation is better adhesion necessary steps binder. We can use special powder applicator to ensure the best distribution powder. The transducer between the two applied the powder can be passed to the lower side of the mat.

Combined with the emulsion

Screen system used to ensure adequate diffusion of the binder. The excess binder will be recovered by a special suction system.

This system allows air through the mat and binder were taken away. The binder is evenly distributed and the excess will be eliminated. Obviously, the binder can be reused after filtering dirt.

BASF Plan to Mass Produce Honeycomb Car Parts

Base on BASF’s press on August 12 , its semi-rigid polyurethane foam system has made it possible for the first time to mass-produce an exterior car part featuring a honeycomb sandwich structure with a class. The foam system was used to make the roof for a model of the new smart fortwo – an electric vehicle. The roof consists of a paper honeycomb and two surrounding glass fiber mats.

The roof, which is 30 percent lighter than the standard roof on the previous model, was developed by Fehrer Composite Components, which manufactures it in its factory in Großlangheim, Germany. Although the newer model is lighter, BASF maintains it retains the same strength and flexural rigidity and fiberglass chopped strand mat.

 

To make the roof, honeycomb and glass fiber mats are sprayed in a single impregnation process with BASF’s 3532 and pressed together with a solid-colored class-A film. This causes the polyurethane system to foam up slightly at the edge of the sandwich and creates a solid material composite between film, reinforcing mats and paper honeycomb core.

In the past, the honeycomb technology was used to make interior car parts, such as loading floors, roof linings, and rear shelves. In order to make exterior car parts, however, BASF had to adjust the viscosity and reactivity to ensure it could be optimally processed in each manufacturing step and display good adhesion properties. According to BASF, the adjusted system guarantees uniform, thin wetting of the glass fiber mats and will not drip.

Composites Keep Building from Falling in Seismic Events

Concrete buildings are losing the battle against nature’s fury – earthquakes. Although they appear sturdy, older concrete buildings are vulnerable to the sideways movement of a major earthquake. Los Angeles officials have known about the dangers for more than 40 years but have failed to force owners to make their properties safer. Therefore, university researchers compiled a list of potentially dangerous concrete buildings within the city. Their findings point to the fact that society needs to deal with retrofitting structures.

So what does this have to do with FRP composites?  Well, everything.

Since the late 1980’s, when glass fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites were first applied as external strengthening systems to rehabilitate and repair reinforced concrete, the construction industry has embraced these materials as an important tool in the engineers toolbox. Numerous structures have been seismically retrofitted with glass and carbon FRP composites ranging from transportation structures (columns, girders, slabs) to building structures (columns, beams, walls, floors). Both reinforced concrete and unreinforced masonry are the targets.

There are still many more structures that need to be fixed and the market potential is huge. The big challenge is where do society, federal, state, city, county and other local governments find the money to keep the public safe in seismic events. What we do know is this; there is design guidance out there provided by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) on how to design with FRP composites to repair concrete and masonry. There will soon be additional design guidance provided for seismic applications and there are a number of companies already offering these materials and products. Thousands of installations show composites are an engineered solution.

How to reduce the consumption of the fiberglass chopped strand mat powder binder

Fiberglass chopped strand mat is mainly applied to the production of a variety of hand lay plate, boats, bathroom equipment, automotive parts and cooling towers of glass and steel products.

In the actual production process, adhesion, uniformity, is the most fundamental technology product key, relatively, to ensure the cohesiveness of the product while reducing the consumption of powder or emulsion that is fundamental to reduce the cost of inputs and improve the effectiveness.

How can we reduce the consumption of adhesive bonding on the basis of the guarantee it? In many years of actual production of glass fiber chopped strand mat powder which concluded the following:

1.       Powder content appropriateness.

2.       The ratio of water with the powder, in which the relevant tests can determine how much product will be able to direct bonding of the moisture content of the mat embryos.

3.       Flutter of the ratio of the size of the shock, the transmission belt fit it properly.

4.       Recycling rate, which refers powder recovered, recycled powder is fully utilized.

5.       Remove excess moisture in the process of drying and melting, the temperature setting is in the melting point of the powder.

Above five points is the underlying bond of the product. Of course, the basic elements are doing powder products. Emulsion products in the production are good so long as the ratio of the emulsion and water, it can be completely recycled.

Replace Steel in Bridge with GFRP

After extensive laboratory research on glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) as internal reinforcement of concrete, graduate students at the University of Miami are working with Moss Construction Management to substitute steel deck reinforcement with GFRP rebars in the construction of the “Fate Bridge” on campus in an effort to combat future corrosion problems. To date, GFRP has proven to be an effective internal reinforcement for concrete structures as an alternative to steel due to its magnetic transparency, corrosion resistance, durability, high strength-to-weight-ratio, and life expectancy. GFRP is also about four times lighter than steel.

GFRP bars, replacing standard steel rebars for concrete reinforcement, have been laid out on the bridge deck. The next step is casting the concrete. This decreases the amount of labor needed to complete the same tasks in construction sites. This also makes the use of GFRP more advantageous than steel for the bridge project, and it could decrease concrete usage in the future.

Lead by their advisor, the students are installing a state of the art monitoring system with two types of gauges embedded in concrete and directly attached to the reinforcing GFRP and steel rebars in the bridge deck and superstructure. The Vibrating Wire Strain Gauges are designed to measure strains on the steel or GFRP internal reinforcement of certain concrete elements in the bridge. These gauges consist of a steel wire tensioned between two mounting blocks attached to stainless steel pads which are epoxy bonded to the rebars. The Concrete Embedment Strain Gauges are designed to measure strains directly by embedment in concrete using the vibrating principle with a steel wire compressed between two blocks.

 

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Why we choose fiberglass pool

Rapid installation

Fiberglass pool is directly pre-fabricated from the factory, and ready to install. In fact, it just approved by the Council after four days you can swim. In contrast, the concrete pool can take months to complete, during this period, your backyard will look a mess!

Finish

Fiberglass pool has a smooth clean finish gel coat, not rough. No sharp edges or rough surfaces. Compared with this, a number of pebble pool is very rough they can hurt your skin.

Easy maintenance

In the gel coat finish not only looks great, but also it is very easy to take care. The surface is smooth and non-porous, so that it is easy to clear and stain.

Low chemical usage

Nobody likes to swim in the chemical cocktail, but some pools require constant monitoring and expensive chemicals. Not so, glass fiber FRP tank, so there is no surface chemically inert in the pool surface can change the water chemistry. Thus, it has very low use of chemicals and run your pool considerable cost savings.

High strength

The shell thickness of Fiberglass pool exceeds the Australian standards. High tensile strength glass fiber will allow the pool shell without cracking to accommodate crustal movement. No wonder fiberglass aircraft manufacturers are using to build the plane!
        Understanding of fiberglass chopped strand mat ，click：http://www.zccyfiberglass.com

The characteristics of fiberglass chopped strand mat powder

E-glass chopped strand mat powder is made of e-glass chopped roving, the random non-directional spread evenly, then bonded together with powder binder made continuous mat.

Applicable resin and products

It’s suitable for reinforced unsaturated polyester resins, vinyl resins, epoxy resins.

Chopped strand mat is the largest amount in hand lay-up process, and it ‘s also can be used for winding, molding, continuous system boards and other technology. The main end products are all kinds of boards, boats, bathroom equipment, automotive parts and cooling towers and so on.

Product features

There is a uniform unit area weight, which ensure the fiberglass content and stable the mechanical properties.

The binder distributed evenly that ensure good adhesion, less fuzz, while the volume of small diameter mat.

The mat has excellent flexibility as its struction. They have some other characters when operation that is good molding and it without rebound in small angle.

Resin impregnated fast and consistent speed, easy to remove air bubbles, reduce resin consumption and production costs, while improving productivity and mechanical properties of the final product.

The product has high strength in dry and wet and good transparency.

It’s applicable to reinforced unsaturated polyester resin, vinyl resin, an epoxy resin and the like. Chopped strand mat, the largest amount in hand lay-up process, but also can be used for winding, molding, continuous system boards and other technology. The main end products are all kinds of boards, boats, bathroom equipment, automotive parts and cooling towers.

Fiberglass Chopped Strand Mat Production Line

Fiberglass chopped strand mat is an important nonwoven reinforcement material, which is main material of fiberglass hand layup process. The chopped fiberglass strand or roving is non-directional and even distributed, then combined with powder binder or emulsion binder.

The chopped mats are widely used in various FRP applications, such as, tanks, corrugated sheet, automobile parts etc., which has good wet out properties and high tensile strength. The production line takes the chopped fiberglass strand or roving as mat, so it has the characteristics of fine uniformity, high auto-control, lower energy consumption, easy operation and maintenance.

The production lines can manufacture powder, emulsion, non-soda and neutral-soda chopped mats. The line design width of 2.6 meters, 3.6 meters, the capacity is 5,000 tons / year and 8,000 tons/year respectively.

In Mat Production process, assembled roving is chopped to a specified length by a roll with blades and an elastomeric roll, and then falls on the transportation carpet randomly. Then the chopped strands are bonded together by either an emulsion binder or a powder binder. The chopped strand mat will be rolled in a certain width and length after heating.

Material of Glass Fiber Chopped Strand Mat

The Glass used commonly for GRP is a calcium-alumina borosilicate with an alkali content of less than one per cent. It is commonly known as ‘E’ type glass, since it was originally developed for use in electrical insulation systems.

Glass Fibers are produced by running molten glass from a direct melt furnace into a platinum alloy bushing containing a large number of small holes, from each of which a glass filament is drawn. Filaments for commercial use are normally between 9 and 15 microns in diameter. The filaments are “dressed” with an emulsion before being gathered into fibres. The fibres are remarkably strong-the tensile strength being particularly high. They also exhibit good chemical and moisture resistance, have excellent electrical properties, are not subject to biological attack and are non-combustible with a melting point around 1500oC-all excellent qualities in a plastic reinforcement for Fiberglass Chopped Strand Mat.

The glass fibers can be used in a variety of ways-chopped into short lengths(“chopped strands”); gathered together into loosely bound ropes (“rovings”); woven into a variety of fabrics, produced from yarn made by twisting and doubling continuous strands. In the UK, the most widely used Glass Fiber material is chopped strand mat, which consists of glass strands chopped together in short lengths (approx. 50mm) and held together in mat form by a polyvinyl acetate or polyester binder. The mat is available in a range of weights, from 225gm2 to 1200gm2, and is a useful general purpose reinforcement.

Fiberglass stitched mat characteristics, classification and application

The characteristics of fiberglass stitched mat: the stitched mat increased the strength of the composites, reduced the weight, make the surface more smoother, and simplify hand lay molding operation.

The classification of fiberglass stitched mat

Uniaxial fabric

Only in the longitudinal direction of the fabric 0 (warp) or 90 (zonal) laid parallel to the direction of a roving and stitched into the fabric.

Biaxial fabric

in the longitudinal direction of the fabric0,90 or ± 45, any two of the four directions parallel to the laying of roving, each direction of each yarn layer to form an independent double-axial fabrics and stitching.

Multiaxial fabric

With the length of the fabric into four directions 0,90, ± 45 of any of the three multi-axial fabric laying parallel rovings, then stitched into four directions or.

Stitched Chopped Strand Mat

With a combination of the stitching machine chopped machine, the roving sprinkle chopped and spread evenly, then sewn into the carpet.

Stitched composite mat

The uniaxial fabric, biaxial fabric, multiaxial fabric of any one of chopped strand mat and stitch on the stitch machine can be sewn into a 2-5 layer composite mat stitch.

The application of fiberglass stitched mat

In China, the largest user of the stitched fabric is FRP pipe with inner and outer reinforcement  for stitched chopped strand mat. In the automotive, refrigeration equipment, has been applied on the construction industry, from the process perspective, mainly in filament winding pipes, large molding, pultrusion, rtm, and a small amount of hand lay-up, but also has applications in the shipbuilding industry.

Fiberglass Chopped Strand Mat Wet out with Epoxy

Fiberglass Chopped strand mat, in fabric form, it is made up of 1"-2" long fiberglass strands that are randomly oriented and typically held together with a styrene-soluble binder that acts like glue connecting the fibers. The binder is designed to dissolve upon contact with styrene in polyester resin or vinylester resin. Once dissolved, the fabric softens, allowing it to drape around curved shapes. It comes in a variety of weights between .75 oz to 3 oz per square foot. The most popular weights are .75 oz and 1.5 oz.

In the US, chopped strand mat is nearly always sold or specified in ounces per square foot. This is different than fiberglass cloth and fiberglass fabrics with oriented fiber layers (including woven cloth, stitched biaxial & triaxial fabrics, and the like). These are designated in ounces per square yard. When mat is attached to any of these fabrics (as in fabmat or biaxial with mat), the combined fabric is often called out in fabric weight. An example of this is our 738 Biaxial Fabric, which is a 1508 biaxial fabric with mat. This means 15 oz per sq yard of biaxial fabric plus an attached 0.8 oz per sq foot layer of mat.

Can epoxy be used to wet out chopped strand mat? The answer is yes. The fiberglass strand in mat wets out with epoxy, but the binder holding things together does not dissolve. (It does get put into suspension and is sealed in the cured epoxy.) This undissolved binder causes the wet-out mat to remain a bit stiff compared to wet out with a styrene-based resin. For gently curving or flat projects like cabin soles or plywood decks, mat and epoxy should work fine. The fabric does not wet out perfectly clear with epoxy. Wet-out clarity of mat with epoxy varies somewhat with different suppliers, but none of them wet out as clear as a good 4 oz or 6 oz fiberglass cloth.

The texture of the chopped strand mat is quite rough given its random fibers (many of which come loose when epoxy is applied). Mat requires a number of coats of epoxy to fill the profile at the surface. Release Fabric can be applied over the freshly wet-out mat to compress the fibers and minimize the need for many of the buildup coats. Using release fabric in this way will result in a much smoother surface, and if you are going to allow the epoxy to cure before continuing, the surface is ready for buildup coats of epoxy or fairing putty after the release fabric is removed.

Plastic sheeting can also be used over the still uncured epoxy and mat to compress the fibers. Trapped air bubbles can be removed by piercing or slitting the plastic over the bubble before the epoxy begins to cure. If the plastic was clean when it was applied, you can pull the plastic after the epoxy cures to a hard gel and apply epoxy fairing putty or buildup coats of epoxy later the same day. If you allow the epoxy to cure hard before pulling the plastic, be sure to sand the surface completely dull before applying more epoxy.

When choosing chopped strand mat to be used with epoxy, look for mat that is soft and pliable. Some forms are quite stiff and may cause problems wetting out with epoxy. Stiff mat is often older stock and the fibers may take more time to wet out with epoxy.

The advantages of FRP doors

There are several advantages of FRP doors, which is different from the wood and metal doors. Glass doors can produce very like wood, and even door expert can’t distinguish between them. Which tougher than ordinary door, and it will better when the weather has a sudden change. It can also be customized according to your specific needs. Some manufacturers specified their products do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, so this product will not cause harm to the environment.

Compare with the traditional wood and metal doors, the FRP doors has a higher upfront costs, but there will be a long-run investment and it will outweigh the initial. Fiberglass doors will rarely be scratched, peeling or deformed, and it can resist harsh climate more than the solid wood doors. While FRP doors have the following characteristics:

1.       harder than vinyl doors

2.       We can produce a variety of colors and styles

3.       You can customize your size selection

4.       Low-maintenance materials

5.       It will not bend

6.       Like wood produced

7.       Fiberglass doors are filled with insulating foam, it will provide at least five times the insulation of doors。

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GLASS FIBER REINFORCED PIPES INTRODUCTION

What is GRP PIPES? Glass Reinforced Pipes (GRP) Pipes are made from glass fiber reinforcements that are embedded in cured thermosetting resin. GRP Pipes may contain aggregate granular.

The selection of proper material as well as material composition depends on the pipe required properties and as well as designed performance characteristics.

GRP pipes were introduced since 1948. Since then GRP invaded the market due to its corrosion resistance capabilities and were selected as alternative to steel and stainless steel pipes.

GRP pipe line expanded to include applications of high pressure, as well as big range of diameters reaching up to 4000 mm.

GRP pipes combine the benefits of durability, strength, and corrosion resistance; moreover, they offer great design flexibility with the possibility to customize the pipe design in a wide range of properties, the same is applicable to providing a wide range of different fittings profile and shape.

Materials:  

GRP pipes consist of:

Glass Fiber Reinforcement: the mechanical strength of GRP pipes depends on the amount, type and arrangement of glass reinforcement.

The common glass types used in the GRP pipes are:

Fiberglass Reinforcements are available in different forms:

Continuous Roving, consisting of bundled, untwisted, strand. It provides excellent mechanical properties.

Fiberglass chopped strand mat, consisting of chopped strands held together with binder. It is used to provide multidirectional reinforcement in pipes as well as fittings

Surface Veil, are of light weight that allow high resin content layers, that helps in improving the environmental resistance of pipes and fittings, in addition to smooth surface.

 

Resins: only thermosetting resins are used in the production of GRP pipes. Thermoset resin are polymeric resin cured by heat or/and chemical additives.

Resins could be of two types:

- Polyester, such as Isophthalic, that is commonly used to manufacture large diameter pipes used for conveying water and sewage. Vinyl ester, is another polyester, but have increased corrosion resistance and is commonly used to convey aggressive fluids such as acids.

- Epoxy resins are commonly used to manufacture small diameter pipes to convey water, hydrocarbons, diluted acids, …

- Additional components might be used in the GRP pipes such as: Silica Sand, Organic Peroxides catalyst, hardeners and accelerators …

Fiberglass enterprises achieved profit new growth based on devaluation

Our fiberglass production accounts for about 55 percent of global glass fiber output, which exports accounted for 40% -50%. Since 2014 the recovery trend in the overseas export market has emerged, August devaluation would help to promote export growth of fiberglass, thickening fiberglass enterprises profits, such as the Sichuan weibo and Sichuan sincere and long-term complex material co., ltd and so on.

Devaluation will boost some export-oriented industries which exports accounted for a higher proportion. On the one hand, export-oriented enterprises in the export settlement generally is the US dollar as the settlement currency, devaluation can increase the exchange gain related businesses. On the other hand, the domestic export products competitiveness will be enhanced on the international market after devaluation.

August 11 the central bank announced the adjustment of the RMB exchange rate quotation system, on the 11th, the 12th in a row down for the central parity of RMB, while the US dollar against the yuan central parity rate from August 10, 1 US dollar 6.1162 yuan to one 1 US dollar against 6.3306 yuan. the euro against the yuan central parity rate from August 10 6.7226 yuan against one euro to $ 6.9481, a two-day continuous reduction reached 3.5%, the RMB exchange rate is expected to depreciate by 5%.

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Market Trend of FRP Pipe 2015-2020

According to latest research, the global FRP pipe market size in terms of value is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.5% between 2015 and 2020 to reach $4 billion by 2020.

The global FRP market, has witnessed a strong growth in the past few years. This growth is estimated to continue in the coming years due to increasing demand from Asia-Pacific. There are continues increasing demand from end-user industry from the emerging economies, such as China, Brazil and India and also from Middle East region. These are the major drivers as per the current market dynamics. Also, such demand is backed by increasing industrialization and government awareness towards water and waste water treatment. The superior mechanical and anti-corrosion properties, low conductivity, and longer lifecycles make FRP pipes a natural choice both for various applications. The North American and Rest of the World’s FRP pipe markets are expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.6-2.8% and 3.2-3.5% during 2015-2020.

Currently, Asia-Pacific is the largest consumer of FRP pipes and it will continue to drive the market. The major drivers of Asia-Pacific FRP pipe industry are growing investment towards urban infrastructure development, establishment and upgrade of airports, capacity expansion in petrochemical plants, and establishment of power plants. Increasing demand from replacement of existing metal pipe in oil and gas exploration activities to get rid of corrosion problems also drive the FRP pipe market Asia-Pacific region. Among all the countries in this region, China, Japan and India are important consumers of FRP pipe. China held the largest share in the regional consumption in terms of volume in 2014. The market size in terms of volume is comparatively low in the RoW, but is estimated to have a developing CAGR between 2015 and 2020 due to the increasing market share of Brazil and countries from Middle East region.

Almost 85% of the total FRP pipe demand in 2014 was from oil & gas, retail fuel, water & wastewater sewage, and chemical industries. This was due to their physical and mechanical properties such as superior anti-corrosion properties, low conductivity, and longer lifecycles of FRP pipes. A major application industry that uses FRP pipes is Oil & Gas which contributes major market share.

Asia-Pacific and European regions are the most active markets in terms of strategic initiatives, owing to their emerging and mature market demands, respectively. The superior end-user industry growth, amplified local manufacturing, and increased number of domestic players in vertical market segments, such as industrial applications in the Asia-Pacific region can be the important drivers in terms of consumption of the FRP pipes.

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