What is Fiberglass ?

Fiberglass(or fiber glass, glass fiber) is a fibrous silicate glass(silica, SiO2, quartz) material, with varying amounts of other oxides of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes boron. Fiberglass is a strong lightweight material, chemical and heat resistant. Common applications of fiberglass include: thermal insulation and seal, electrical insulation, mechanical reinforcement(glass-reinforced plastic GRP or GFRP) etc.

Silicate (SiO2) glass is amorphous. It’s molecule structure does not have long-range order, but short-range order of a tetrahedral arrangement of O and Si atoms. For example, E glass consists more than 50% of SiO2. SiO2 and B2O3 are the predominant network formers. BaO acts as a network modifier and Al2O3 is a glass network intermediate, which together with BaO has the capacity to form a network.

Common types of fiberglass include:

E-glass which is alumino-borosilicate glass with less than 1% alkali oxides. This is the most commonly used fiberglass for thermal insulation and seal, electrical insulation and GRP/GFRP.

C-glass is alkali-lime glass with high boron oxide content. C-glass is also a commonly used fiberglass for thermal insulation and seal.

S-glass is alumino silicate glass without CaO but with high MgO content. S-glass has high tensile strength It is less commonly used in thermal insulation and seal applications

Less Commonly used fiberglass type:

A-glass: Alkali-lime glass with little or no boron oxide.

E-CR-glass: Electrical/Chemical Resistance; alumino-lime silicate with less than 1%  alkali oxides, with high acid resistance.

D-glass: Borosilicate glass, named for its low Dielectric constant.

R-glass: Alumino silicate glass without MgO and CaO with high mechanical requirements as Reinforcement.

 

3 Comments on “What is Fiberglass ?

  1. Hello, when elapsed time between installation of fiber glass rope and start of operation was more than one year, may become change the quality of this kind of seal? Thank you for your statement in advance.

    • All MinGlas fiberglass rope variations have high tensile strength and are resistant to shrinking, chemicals (pH 2-12), heat, sparks, and flames, with a working temperature up to 1000 degrees F (538 degrees C). Our knitted and graphite coated fiberglass ropes are also resistant to aging. These characteristics are shared by fiberglass rope products from other companies, but there may be slight differences.

      Given the properties mentioned above, the sealing effectiveness of your fiberglass rope should not be compromised by the elapse time that you mentioned, especially if the rope has not been in an environment with an unusually high thermal or chemical load.