Construction industry proves a game-changer for fibreglass
The purpose of innovation and technical advancement is to make various processes and products simpler with multi-faceted uses. The endeavour to come up with an improved product can be a hit-or-miss in most sectors including textile, despite the extraordinary pressure on the firms to grow their product. So when the fibreglass was launched in the market eight decades ago, there was a need with each passing year to refine the product in order to ensure that it can be used for various purposes. Fibreglass includes all the products that are composed of individual glass fibres combined into a variety of forms. Fibreglass is used in strengthening various materials. These fibres are designed in a way so that they have a diameter of a few microns, making the fibreglass extremely light and with a Silane coating the compatibility with the material that they reinforce is improved by a great degree.
Fibreglass is indeed an innovation of textile, which is made into yarn just like regular wool or cotton, and these yarns are woven into fabric. This fibreglass fabric is often used in draperies. The discontinuous (short) fibres are used for the purpose of electrical and thermal insulation and filtration. However, the purposes of fibreglass are much more extensive. The regular fibreglass is used in mats, corrosion as well as heat resistant fabric and for sound insulation. The fibreglass is also used for the purpose of reinforcing tent poles, pole vault poles, arrows, bows and crossbows, translucent roofing panels, automobile bodies, hockey sticks, surfboards, boat hulls, and paper honeycomb. The application of fibreglass has become common in cast used for medical purpose. Open-weave glass fibre grids are commonly used to strengthen asphalt pavement. Apart from these uses, fibreglass is also the best option in reinforcement of polymer rebar instead of steel rebar especially in areas where corrosion resistance of steel is a major requirement.
Today, with the changes in market requirement, the manufacturers of fibreglass are working on two significant factors including increasing the production and performance of the fabric and decreasing the overall cost of production and also the cost of the final product. These two factors have ensured that the applications of fibreglass are expanded with each step that the manufacturers take in making fibreglass better. Various industries like construction, transportation, automobile and infrastructure rely on fibreglass's properties to provide strength and unique features like heat and corrosion resistance to various products. It is being expected that among various industries that need fibreglass for product augmentation, the construction and automobile industry will govern the rising demand of fibreglass, thus contributing to the growth of fibreglass market. In automobile industry, there is a rise in demand for light weight and fuel efficient vehicles, which will lift the demand of fibreglass materials.
Among the global manufacturers of fibreglass, China and the U.S.A. are the leaders. China is currently witnessing a boom in construction sector, energy sector and electrical goods industry, following which the demand of fibreglass has shown an upward trend. This demand has played a crucial role in giving facelift to the overall fibreglass market. It is anticipated that the Asia Pacific region would be the leading manufacturer as well as consumer of the fibreglass market over the next few years.
The demand for fibreglass in the United States is also on higher side and in the last financial year, approximately 20 percent of fibreglass was exported to the United States from China. The construction and transportation sectors in Europe and United States have utilised most of the fibreglass imported from China and other countries. However, China's production involving fibreglass is mostly confined to E-glass product, which is not used in composites. The high performance and high value fibreglass is manufactured in North America. The high performance fibreglass industry in China is in budding phase and it will take time for this industry to evolve.
The trend of boron market, which is an essential raw material used in production of fibreglass is also an indicator to the expanding fibreglass market. This change is mainly due to rise in demand of fibreglass. The global demand for boron has grown stronger in last three years and continues to grow stronger in 2014. This growth is dictated by an expansion of demand from China, where consumption rose by 15 percent per annum in 2014. The increase in market share held by Asian countries reflects the shift in production of textile-grade fibreglass away from North America and Europe to countries with lower production costs.
Another factor that the global fibreglass industry has observed is the recycling of glass fibre. As a matter of fact, today use of recycled glass fibre is being encouraged. The recycled glass fibre consists of up to 40 percent recycled glass. This is a positive development, as recycled fibreglass is environment friendly move.
The good thermal endurance, high tensile strength, low moisture absorption, product versatility and cost effective in comparison to product with similar properties, fibreglass has awed the global construction and automobile industry. Further research and development of fibreglass will definitely boost the growth of the product. The 2014-15 is a promising year for fibreglass, as fibreglass scores over all the other similar products with regard to competency and customer satisfaction.
References:
1. Madehow.com
2. Wikipedia.com
3. Tura-tr.com
5. Textilemachine.fangzhi-jixie.com
