GLASS FIBER REINFORCED ENGINEERING PLASTICS SIZING AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT FOR PERFORMANCE

摘要

Fiber glass reinforced engineering plastics are increasingly important construction materials in transportation, electrical and other field applications. With the use of fiber glass reinforcements, certain material properties such as stiffness, strength and temperature stability are significantly improved. Combined with the base plastics, attractive material properties are obtained making them suitable for very demanding applications. Traditional performance attributes such as mechanical and environmental properties, reductions in total part cost as well as lightweight benefits allow these materials to provide answers to more complex applications, while meeting lightweight, recyclability, food contact and other requirements.It is essential to use the right fiber glass product with the right sizing specific to the application. Sizing provides a powerful solution for many processes and performance attributes of short fiber compounds and allows the final product to meet a variety of additional requirements.In this paper, the latest developments in glass fiber reinforcement will be reviewed, focusing on some of the most important engineering plastics such as polyamide, polyester and others. It will be demonstrated how very small amounts of glass fiber sizing can be very effective in realizing performance attributes over a wide range of requirements. In addition, examples will show how glass fiber reinforcements can greatly enhance the performance of certain biopolymers.