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FRP Sheet Applications

For those engaged in offering truck beds or trailers, they will be very familiar to fiber reinforced polymer sheet(FRP sheet full name). It is a kind of composite material. At present, most of the domestic motorhomes enterprises use FRP material to manufacture body parts. For example, FRP roof panels of RV, fiberglass car body shell, and even including the truck floor. Of course, some companies also adopt aluminum flat sheets and plastic sheets. Based on the FRP flat sheet application in the current market, we make the following instructions for it.

Comparing fiberglass sheets with aluminum sheets and plastic sheets

Compared to the aluminum plain sheet, what are the superiorities of fiber reinforced sheet?

If you drive trucks made of aluminum and reinforced plastics, you will obviously notice the difference. At first, the body weight of aluminum flat sheets is heavier. Because the aluminum density is 2.7g/cm3, while the density of FRP fiberglass is about 1.6 g/cm3. (FRP density depends on the ratio of resin systems and fibers.) According to different performance requirements, FRP manufacturer uses different resin matrix and fiber reinforcement material. Besides, the aluminum plain sheet deforms easily under external impact. And it’s difficult to maintain.

Compared to plastic sheets, what are the advantages of fiberglass sheets?

FRP flat sheet is also a kind of substitute product of plastic sheet. Due to the many advantages of plastic panels, they also have a wide variety of application. For example, they are resistant to corrosion environments and easy to process. Most noteworthy, its manufacturing cost is low. But when it comes to building materials for fabrication home, we always choose reinforced polymer composite. No one will choose PVC or other plastics. Because most plastic sheets have poor heat resistance, dimensional stability, and high thermal expansion rate. It’s also easy to deform and age. While using plastic panels, it’s easy to fire and unsafe, especially for the kitchen. But, Resolite, a famous FRP manufacture in united states, gets a great breakthrough. It developed and produced the first fire retardant Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) panels. Also, it introduced the first walkable tred safe FRP panels and RFM panels factory mutual approved.

FRP sheet advantages

From the FRP manufacturer’s point of view, fiberglass sheets have these advantages:

1) Easy and convenient manufacturing process. We can customize the textures and standard colors of fiberglass flat sheet. And there is no need to spray extra paint. It can reduce the procedure of fiberglass sheet manufacturing process.

2) Good weather resistance. There is a layer of gel coat on the surface of fiberglass sheets. It not only makes the roofing and siding panels surface smooth but also realizes the good weather resistance. But for aluminum sheets, they are sprayed with paint. There is a risk of paint peeling. And for plastic sheets, their surfaces are easily scratched.

3) Light weight and energy saving. Obviously, the density of the FRP sheet is lower than that of the aluminum sheet. According to the research, for each 10% reduction in vehicle weight, the fuel efficiency can be increased by 6% to 8%. Since we reduce the car weight, it is significant to reduce fuel consumption and save energy.

4) Thermal insulation. FRP roof panels offer better insulation properties. Because it has a low thermal conductivity, ranging from 1.25 to 1.67kJ/(m•h•K) at room temperature. As for the refrigerated carriage, we can make thermally insulated fiberglass foam panels. Using PU as the fiberglass foam core can make the insulation properties much better.

5) Corrosion resistance. It’s easy for pitting or corrosion to use a metal plain sheet. But FRP building panels are corrosion resistant. We can use unsaturated polyester resin, vinyl ester resin, and epoxy resins as the base material. And add fiberglass matting to reinforce. As a result, the best corrosion resistant reinforced plastic FRP material is the combination of glass fiber and epoxy resins. They are applicable to the cooling tower, septic tank system, roofing and siding panels.

FRP sheet manufacturing process

In general, there are main three methods to produce the fiberglass reinforced plastics flat sheet. They are hand lay up, pultrusion, and compression molding. To meet some special need, FRP manufacturer will add different additive into fiberglass reinforced plastics. Such as UV stabilizers and adhesive agent. And according to the different applying range of FRP, we can use different resin matrix and fiber reinforcement material.

For one, common base materials (fiberglass resin) include polyester vinyl ester resins, epoxy resins, isophthalic resins, phenolic resins, and so on. Epoxy resin has excellent chemical stability, good electrical insulation, corrosion resistance, good adhesion performance, and high mechanical strength. The sheet with epoxy resins and glass fiber is fire rated, and it has the highest flame retardant among all FRP fiberglass. Phenolic resin has high mechanical strength, excellent smoke, heat, abrasion, electrical insulation, and acid resistance. Vinyl ester resin is a new type of thermosetting resins, developed in the 1960 s. It has good corrosion, solvent resistance, high mechanical strength, high elongation. And good bonding performance with materials such as metal, plastic, and concrete.

The fiber reinforcement includes glass fiber, carbon fiber, and boron fiber. In the practical fiberglass production process, the glass fiber has many different forms. Such as glass wool, glass strand mat, fiberglass matting, fiberglass cloth, etc. They are used during the different fiberglass production process. First, the hand lay up mainly uses chopped strand mat and fiberglass cloth. Then, pultrusion process uses fiberglass woven roving and continuous strand mat.

DOFRP provides a wide range of high quality FRP products. Including the fiberglass sheet, carbon fiber products, and some other composite products. And the manufacturing method includes hand layup, pultrusion, filament winding, compression molding, etc. If you have any confuse of FRP fiberglass, you can visit the site you agree or mail to us.

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Fiberglass sheets