Glass fibers are manufactured through a process of melting raw materials and drawing them into fine fibers for various applications. Raw materials such as silica, alumina and boron are melted together and refined before flowing through bushings with small holes to produce thin glass filaments. These filaments are drawn, quenched, coated with a sizing and gathered into strands. Glass fibers have properties including high strength, stiffness, chemical resistance and stability that make them useful for insulation, reinforcement, filtration and optical applications. Common types include E, S, C and D glass formulated for different end uses.

1. Glass Fiber: Manufacturing &
Applications
Aravin Prince Periyasamy
Asst Prof/ Textile Chemistry
D.K.T.E Society’s Textile Engineering College, Ichalkaranji
Dist- Kolhapur, M.S, 415116
aravinprince@gmail.com

2. History…….
 Ancient Egyptians made containers of coarse fibers drawn from heat softened glass.
 Napoleon’s funeral coffin was decorated with glass fiber textiles.
 By the 1800s, luxury brocades were manufactured by co-weaving glass with silk, and at the Columbia
Exhibition of 1893.
 The scientific basis for the development of the modern reinforcing glass fiber stems from the work of
Griffiths.
 The French scientist, Reaumur, considered the potential of forming fine glass fibers for woven glass
articles as early as the 18th century.
 Continuous glass fibers were first manufactured in substantial quantities by Owens Corning Textile
Products in the 1930’s for high temperature electrical applications.
 Raw materials such as silicates, soda, clay, limestone, boric acid, fluorspar or various metallic
oxides are blended to form a glass batch which is melted in a furnace and refined during lateral flow
to the fore hearth.

3. Introduction
 Glass in the form of fibers has found wide and varied applications in all kinds of
industry because it is the most versatile industrial materials known today.
 All glass fibers derived from compositions containing Silica, which are available
in virtually unlimited supply.
 They exhibit useful bulk properties such as Hardness, Transparency,
Resistance To Chemical Attack, Stability, and Inertness, as well as
Desirable Fiber Properties such as Strength, Flexibility, and Stiffness.
 Glass fibers are used in a number of applications which can be divided into four
basic categories: (A) Insulations, (B) Filtration Media, (C) Reinforcements,
And (D) Optical Fibers.

4. Types of Glass Fiber
 As per ASTM C 162 the glass fiber were classified according to the end use
and chemical compositions.
E, Electrical Low Electrical Conductivity
S, Strength High Strength
C, Chemical High Chemical Durability
M, Modulus High Stiffness
A, Alkali High Alkali Or Soda Lime Glass
D, Dielectric Low Dielectric Constant

5.  A GLASS – Soda lime silicate glasses used where the Strength,
Durability, And Good Electrical Resistivity.
 C GLASS-- Chemical Stability In Corrosive Acid Environments.
 D GLASS – Borosilicate glasses with a Low Dielectric Constant For
Electrical Applications.
 E GLASS – Alumina-calcium-borosilicate glasses with a maximum
alkali content of 2 wt.% used as general purpose fibers where strength
and High Electrical Resistivity are required.

6.  ECRGLAS® – Calcium aluminosilicate glasses with a maximum alkali
content of 2 wt.% used where strength, electrical resistivity, and
acid corrosion resistance are desired.
 AR GLASS – Alkali Resistant Glasses composed of alkali zirconium
silicates used in cement substrates and concrete.
 R GLASS – Calcium aluminosilicate glasses used for reinforcement
where added strength and acid corrosion resistance are required.
 S-2 GLASS® – Magnesium aluminosilicate glasses used for textile
substrates or reinforcement in composite structural applications which
require high strength, modulus, and stability under extreme
temperature and corrosive environments.

8.  More than half the mix is Silica Sand,
 Other ingredients are Aluminum, Calcium and Magnesium.
Oxides, and Borates

9. Manufacturing

10. Glass Fiber Manufacturing Process

11. The fiber manufacturing process has effectively two variants. One
involves the preparation of marbles, which are re-melted in the
fiberisation stage.
The other uses the direct melting route, in which a furnace is
continuously charged with raw materials which are melted and refined
as that glass reaches the forehearth above a set of platinum–rhodium
bushings from which the fibers are drawn.
The two processes are described in Figures 6.2 and 6.3.2 Glass fibers
are produced by rapid attenuation of the molten glass exuding
through nozzles under gravity.
The glass viscosity between 600 and 1000P.
The rate of fiber production at the nozzle is a function of the rate of flow
of glass, not the rate of attenuation, which only determines final
diameter of the fiber.

12. Furnace For Glass Melting

13. Fiberglass Forming Process

14.  The molten glass flows to platinum/ rhodium alloy bushings and then through
individual bushing tips and orifices ranging from 0.76 to 2.03 mm (0.030 to
0.080 in) and is rapidly quenched and attenuated in air (to prevent
crystallization) into fine fibers ranging from 3 to 35 μm.
 Mechanical winders pull the fibers at lineal velocities up to 61m/s over an
applicator which coats the fibers with an appropriate chemical sizing to aid
further processing and performance of the end products.

15. Furnace
 The temperature is so high > 1600 °C that the sand and other
ingredients dissolve into molten glass.
 The inner walls of the furnace are lined with special
"refractory" bricks that must periodically be replaced.

16. Bushings
 The molten glass flows to
numerous high heat-resistant
platinum trays which have
thousands of small, precisely
drilled tubular openings, called
"bushings."

17. Design and Manufacture of Bushings for Glass Fiber Production

18. Filaments
 This thin stream of molten glass is pulled and attenuated (drawn down)
to a precise diameter, then quenched or cooled by air and water to fix
this diameter and create a filament.
Bunker,
Bushing,
Cooler

19. Sizing
 The hair-like filaments are coated with an aqueous
chemical mixture called a "sizing," which serves two
main purposes:
1) Protecting the filaments from each other during
processing and handling,
2) Ensuring good adhesion of the glass fiber to the resin.
Sizing thickness ~ 50 nanometers

20.  Immediately after cooling with water the fibers are coated with an aqueous
size (usually an emulsion) in contact with a rubber roller.
 The size (or finish) is crucial to the handle ability of the fibers and their
compatibility with the matrix.
 The ‘finish’ therefore may consist of:
1. lubricant(s),
2. surfactant(s),
3. antistatic agent(s), and
4. an optional polymeric binder (emulsion or powder) used for fiber mats

21. Strands
 After the sizing is applied,
filaments are gathered
together into twine-like
strands that go through
one of three steps,
depending on the type of
reinforcement being
made.

22. Properties of Glass Fiber

23. Physical Properties

24.  High strength S-2 Glass fibers’ annealed properties
measured at 20°C are as follows:
 Young’s Modulus 93.8 GPa
 Shear Modulus 38.1 GPa
 Poisson’s Ratio 0.23
 Bulk Density 2.488 g/cc

25. Other Properties….

26. Chemical Resistance
 The chemical resistance of glass fibers to the corrosive and leaching
actions of acids, bases, and water is expressed as a percent weight loss.
 The lower this value, the more resistant the glass is to the corrosive
solution.

27. Thermal Properties
 The viscosity of a glass decreases as the temperature increases.
 Note that the S-2 Glass fibers’ temperature at viscosity is 150-260°C
higher than that of E Glass, which is why S-2 Glass fibers have higher
use temperatures than E Glass.

29. Radiation Properties
 E Glass and S-2 Glass fibers have excellent resistance to all types
of nuclear radiation.
 Alpha and beta radiation have almost no effect. But some times it
produce 5 to 10% decrease in tensile strength.
 E Glass and C Glass are not recommended for use inside atomic
reactors because of their high boron content.

30. Composite Properties
 Application of glass fiber composite materials depends on proper
utilization of glass composition, size chemistry, fiber orientation,
and fiber volume in the appropriate matrix for desired mechanical,
electrical, thermal, and other properties.

31. Strength and stiffness
 For glass this will be about 7GPa, but the practical strength would
be significantly less at about 0.07GPa.
 A typical E-glass fiber can have a strength of 3GPa.

32. Static Fatigue
 Glass fibers are subject to static fatigue,
 Which is the time-dependent fracture of a material under a constant load,
as opposed to a conventional fatigue test where a cyclic load is employed

33. Environmental Stress Corrosion Cracking (ESCC)
 E-glass fibers have a reduced lifetime under load and this is more severe
in an acidic environment.
 This is generally referred to as environmental stress corrosion cracking
or ESCC.
 Here, a synergism between stress and chemistry occurs as described in
the previous section under II.
 At low loads and in alkaline environments, chemical corrosion dominates
but is stress assisted.

34. Typical Tensile Strength of Glass Fiber

35. Glass Fiber Forms
• Fibers
• Roving's
• Chopped Strands
• Yarns
• Fabrics
• Mats

36. Chopped-strand Production

37.  These are fibers which have been chopped to lengths of 1.5 to 50mm,
depending on the application.
 These are combined with thermoplastic or thermosetting resins for molding
compounds.
 Chopped strands are either soft- or hard-sized, depending on the molding
application.

38. Multiend Roving Process Production

39. Twisting

40. Texturising

41.  Texturizing is a process in which the glass yarn is subjected to an air jet
that impinges on its surface to make the yarn “fluffy’’.

42. Glass Fiber Product Applications
- Composite Applications
- Transportation
– Electrical/Electronics
– Building Construction
– Infrastructure
– Aerospace/Defense
– Medical Products

43. THANK
YOU !