Fiberglass composites

The primary UPR end markets are construction, automotive, and marine industries widi applications such as house paneling, tub and shower applications, chemical-resistant storage tanks, pultruded profiles, and fiberglass composite boat hulls. The UPR industry is mature, with a world production close to 1.7 million tons (Table 2.2), but must face two important issues increasingly strict regulations for styrene emissions and poor recycling potential for polyester thermosets.48 49... 

Rodriguez, E.L. (1989). Microdelamination due to resin shrinkage in filament-would fiberglass composites X Mater. Sci. Lett. 8, 116-118. 

Along with traditional plastics, composites are also becoming more widely employed. GM has traditionally employed fiberglass composites for the Corvette s body panels (now using carbon-fiber composites for some of these panels), but is now looking to use composites for the body panels of other automobiles. 

The composite industry was launched in the early 1960s with the development of fiberglass, which consists of short glass fibers in a matrix of some thermoset resin. Fiberglass composites are tough, lightweight, and inexpensive to... 

Figure 3. Strength retention of fiberglass composites after boiling for 24 h in water at different pHs.

The storage and transfer of raw chemicals requires special considerations relative to the equipment that come into contact with epoxy resins. Carbon steel is generally satisfactory for pipe and tank construction and will not rust beneath the epoxy resin. Rust occuring above the level of the epoxy and accidentally introduced into the resin may be removed by filters. Epoxy coated steel pipe, aluminum or stainless steel pipe, or epoxy fiberglass composite tubing is used to prevent rusting downstream of the filter. 

This is a huge general category of materials, which includes both thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers. Tabular data on the corrosion resistance of these materials in a wide range of environments are available from a variety of sources. Commonly used materials of construction in the CPI include polyvinyl chloride (PVC and CPVC), polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), fiberglass composite materials, and a variety of epoxies used for coatings or adhesives. 

Polymeric substrate materials in use include highly filled phenolic and epoxy resins for rigid printed circuit boards, polyimides and polyesters for circuit substrates as well as for more general applications, special foamed poly(tetrafluoroethylene) polymers and copolymers, foamed composite materials of the latter, special epoxy fiberglass composites, and polyimide support layers for TAB. In addition, epoxies and silicone polymers are used increasingly in applications as encapsulants, as humidity and environmental barriers within packages, and as packaging materials themselves. 

Corrosion-Resistant Binder for Fiberglass Composites. A second application of furan resins is as a premium, corrosion-resistant binder for fiberglass for fabrication of FRP structures for the chemical process industry. Structures can be easily fabricated using "hand lay-up" techniques used to fabricate polyester composites (see Figure 4). In this fashion, pipes, ducts, tanks, scrubbers, etc., are produced for use with process media which quickly... 

Polyester resins (alkyds) were commercialized for coatings use in 1926, and unsaturated polyesters were used as thermoset fiberglass composite matrix resins in the 1940s, but the early resins made poor adhesives. When flexibilized resins appeared in the 1950s, they were used as adhesives. Today, unsaturated polyesters are widely used as adhesives for thermoset plastics bonding, and even for metal bonding in most countries, but are seldom used as adhesives in the United States, where the more expensive epoxy adhesives are used in similar applications. The saturated polyesters, used as thermoplastic hot-melt adhesives, seem to have appeared in the literature first in the 1954—1957 period. 

Electromagnetic methods such as eddy current, capacitance, microwaves, and terahertz radiation are not traditional inspection methods for composites, but they can be used in some circumstances [36]. Microwaves (300 MHz—300 GHz, 1000—1 mm) and terahertz (300 GHz—3 THz, 1—0.1 mm) are applicable to fiberglass composite inspection and have been successful at the detection of damage and internal features [37—45]. However, electromagnetic radiation at these wavelengths does not penetrate conductive materials. For CFRP, which is mildly conductive, they are only useful for sensing very near the surface. Capacitance measurements can be used to measure dielectric property changes in composites such as moisture uptake or cure condition. 

Radiation damage effects are likely to be of prime importance in organic matrix composites. Screening measurements to assess the severity of the problem are needed. For most of these materials, there is no low-temperature data base. Specifications for industrial laminates (NEMA/ASTM) are generally electrical in nature, and mechanical specifications may be necessary additions for low-temperature applications. Very few 4 K data exist for the advanced (high-modulus) composites and specialty fiberglass composites, which may be needed for low-temperature structural applications near pulsed coils. 

Fiberglass composite materials have a long history of proven performance. Several of the long term, documented case histories have been reviewed. The initial faith placed in these materials was well founded and this has resulted in a large and still growing industry with activity throughout the world. 

Bis-(Y-trimethoxysilylpropyl) amine Isocyanatopropyltriethoxysilane Trimethoxysilylpropyidiethylene triamine Tris-[3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl] isocyanurate fiberglass composites Boron trifluoride fiberglass mfg. 

Table 2.25 Properties of fiberglass Composites with Different Thermosets (1)...

C-H Chiang, JL Koenig. Comparison of primary and secondary aminosilane coupling agents in anhydride-cured epoxy fiberglass composites. Polymer Composites 2 192-198, 1981. 

LAMINATED FIBERGLASS COMPOSITES FOR CRYOGENIC STRUCTURES IN UNDERGROUND SUPERCONDUCTIVE ENERGY STORAGE MAGNETS... 

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