It is known to be present in thousands of manufacturing products, including roofing and insulation materials in both commercial and residential buildings. Fiberglass is a form of fiber-reinforced plastic used as a substitute for asbestos, particularly in the field of heat insulation.
Fiberglass offers more high temperature resistance than cotton and other polyester fibers and has been considered suitable substitute for asbestos. For many years, all types of racing cars have been constructed with lightweight materials on top of aluminum and steel, including fiberglass. In fact, the famous Corvette has always been built of fiberglass. However, fiberglass cannot be used successfully in friction materials such as brake band linings, nor in some of the highly specialized electrical insulation uses.
Like asbestos, fiberglass is made up of long, thin fibers of glass which can be transformed into a woven layer. The best part; fiberglass can be molded into different complex shapes. This is why fiberglass is used in automobiles, aircraft boats, storage tanks, bathtubs, pipes and roofing. It is mainly a group of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals, out of which chrysotile is the most commonly used asbestos.
All the silicate minerals are composed of long, thin fibrous crystals. It is a naturally occurring mineral. Fiberglass, on the other hand, is a man-made fiber-reinforced plastic used as a substitute for asbestos because of the adverse health risks of asbestos. Fiberglass can be molded into different complex shapes.
All glass fibers are are derived from compositions containing silica. They are formed by fusing silica with minerals, which contain the oxides needed to form a given composition. The molten mass is then rapidly cooled to prevent crystallization and formed into glass fibers by a process known as fiberization. Asbestos, on the other hand, is a collective term for a group of fibrous minerals which include chrysotile, tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, grunerite, and riebeckite.
Fiberglass has an exceptionally high tensile strength and offers better continuous operating temperature than asbestos, but lacks the cut resistance of asbestos. Fiberglass is inorganic so it does not burn or support combustion and it has excellent resistance to most chemicals.
In addition, it also exhibits excellent performance in thermal environments because of low coefficient of thermal linear expansion and high coefficient of thermal conductivity. Fiberglass is used in automobiles, aircraft boats, storage tanks, bathtubs, pipes, septic tanks, cladding and roofing. However, fiberglass cannot be used successfully in friction materials such as brake band linings. Asbestos, on the other hand, is used in thermal system insulation, surfacing materials, reinforcement, fireproofing, pipework lagging, floor tiles, cement pipe and sheets, gaskets, friction materials, etc.
It is said to be present in thousands of manufacturing products, including roofing and insulation materials in both commercial and residential buildings. The discovery of asbestos is since antiquity. Asbestos is highly heat resistant and an excellent electrical insulator. In the 20th century, asbestos was widely used as a building material across the world until the s. Because in the s, its harmful effects on human health were recognized.
Several modern buildings which were constructed before the s may contain asbestos. Formerly the fiber was used in gaskets, brake, insulation, linings, and in-ceiling tiles, floor, cement pipes, roofing shingles, and other building materials. The fabrics of asbestos but used for theater curtains, safety apparel, and fire stop hanging.
By the s, the Urals of the Soviet Union and Quebec in Canada were the major sources of its fiber. Also, the manufacture of the asbestos product in the world was led by the United States. The reports related to harmful effects on human health by asbestos fibers started increasing at the beginning of the s. It was found out that inhalation of tiny fibers form can lead to serious lung conditions like asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
In fiberglass, the glass fiber is simply the reinforced plastic. The fiberglass is generally flattened into a sheet and randomly woven or arranged into a fabric. Depending on the usage, different types of glass can be used to make glass fibers. Depending on the usage of raw materials and their proportions to manufacture fiberglass, it can be divided into A-glass, C-glass, E-glass, AE-glass, and S-glass.
Fiberglass comes in several types to suit various applications but the major ones are fiberglass cloth, tape, and rope. Glass fiber is generally corroded only by concentrated alkali, hydrofluoric acid and concentrated phosphoric acid. After several wrinklings, the tensile strength drops significantly.
The biggest weight characteristic of glass fiber is its high tensile strength. The tensile strength is 6. Density 2. Skip to content ntex Uncategorized April 21, What is asbestos? What is fiberglass?
0コメント