Speaking of fiberglass every day, what exactly is fiberglass?

1. Definition of fiberglass

Glass fiber reinforced plastic (also known as glass fiber reinforced plastic, symbol GFRP or FRP) is a composite material that uses glass fiber and its products (glass cloth, tape, felt, yarn, etc.) as reinforcement materials and synthetic resin as the matrix material. The concept of composite materials refers to a material that cannot meet usage requirements and needs to be composed of two or more materials to form another material that can meet people's requirements, namely composite materials. Due to the different types of resins used, they are referred to as polyester fiberglass, epoxy fiberglass, and phenolic fiberglass.

Resin. Resin refers to organic substances with different and high relative molecular weights, whether solid, semi solid, or pseudo solid, and sometimes liquid. In a broad sense, resin is commonly referred to as any polymer used as a basic material for plastics. Unsaturated polyester, epoxy, phenolic and other resins, when added with curing agents and heated, will form insoluble and non fusible curing compounds, hence they are called thermosetting resins; Polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, etc., can be re heated and formed, hence they are called thermoplastic resins and often referred to as plastics.

2. Characteristics of Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP)

(1) Light weight and high strength fiberglass (FRP)

The relative density ranges from 1.5 to 2.0, which is only 1/4 to 1/5 of carbon steel, but the tensile strength is close to or even exceeds that of carbon steel, and the specific strength can be compared to high-grade alloy steel. Therefore, it has achieved remarkable results in aviation, rockets, spacecraft, high-pressure vessels, and other products that require weight reduction. The tensile, bending, and compressive strength of some epoxy FRP can all reach over 400Mpa.

(2) FRP has good corrosion resistance

FRP is a good corrosion resistant material that has good resistance to atmospheric, water, and general concentrations of acids, alkalis, salts, as well as various oils and solvents. It has been applied to various aspects of chemical anti-corrosion and is replacing carbon steel, stainless steel, wood, non-ferrous metals, etc.

(3) Fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) has good electrical properties

It is an excellent insulation material used to manufacture insulators. It can still protect good dielectric properties at high frequencies. Microwave transmission is good and has been widely used in radar radomes.

(4) Good thermal performance of fiberglass (FRP)

FRP has a low thermal conductivity, ranging from 1.25 to 1.67kJ/(m · h · K) at room temperature, only 1/100 to 1/1000 of metal, making it an excellent insulation material. Under instantaneous ultra-high temperature conditions, it is an ideal thermal protection and ablation resistant material that can protect spacecraft from high-speed airflow erosion above 2000 ℃.

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