What is Fiberglass?

Fiberglass was first commercially synthesized in the 1930s. It is an inorganic non-metallic material with excellent performance. The diameter of a single filament ranges from a few microns to more than 20 microns, and the thinnest can reach one twentieth of a hair.

The product design freedom of fiberglass is very large. It can be woven and spun like other silk materials, and a bundle of fiber strands will be composed of hundreds or even thousands of single filaments. Fiberglass has good insulation, strong heat resistance, good corrosion resistance, and high mechanical strength, but it also has the disadvantages of being brittle and poor wear resistance.

The most common application of fiberglass is compounding with resin materials. It is made of resin as the matrix and fiberglass as the reinforcing material, commonly known as FRP.

Compared with traditional metal composite materials, FRP has lower density, higher strength and better corrosion resistance. At the same time, the performance of different parts can be designed according to needs. Therefore, it has a place in fields ranging from building materials, furniture and bathroom to energy and transportation.

In some special fields, fiberglass also occupies an indispensable position.

In petrochemical and some heavy industrial production environments, practitioners are often faced with the threat of high-temperature material splashing, mechanical damage and even fire. Adding fiberglass to textiles can greatly improve the fabric's cutting resistance, anti-static and heat-resistant flame retardant properties by utilizing its advantages, such as fire-fighting clothing, cutting-resistant gloves, etc.

In nuclear protection, fiberglass can be made into fiberglass composite thermal neutron protective clothing due to its good absorption capacity for thermal neutrons, which effectively reduces damage to the human body; combined with its insulation, it can also be used to make insulating materials for detector cables in nuclear reactors.