Glass Fibres

Glass fibre is also known as fiberglass and is usually used as a reinforcing agent for many polymer products. The composites that form using the glass fibre and the polymer is called fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) or glass-reinforced polymer (GRP).

The glass fibres are made of silicon oxide with addition of small amount of other oxides. There are two types of glass fibres. They are

1.    E-glass: this is the most used glass fibre. They have good electrical properties and so are called E-glass. Their tensile strength is 2400 MPa.

2.    S-glass: this type of glass fibre is very strong, stiff and temperature resistant and so is called S-glass. Their tensile strength is 4500 MPa.

Glass fibre is basically a polymer and is produced by spinning process, in which the molten glass out through a nozzle and the glass fibre is formed.

Glass fibres have very high strength. It is insensitive to moisture and is a good electrical insulator. It has low density and low modulus. Glass fibre has good resistance to chemicals, non-flammable and has low fatigue resistance. The cost of glass fibre is low and it makes it suitable to be used in a lot of areas.

The properties of glass fibre makes it suitable to be used in making sports car, boats, lorries, gliders etc. It is used in the field of architecture when making pods, domes etc., where light weight is necessary. Glass fibre is suitable to be used as electrical insulating tape, thermal insulators and waterproofing material.