When it comes to your project, pultruded fiberglass is just as good as any other product on the market, right? Absolutely not! Compared to a wide range of other materials, fiberglass pultrusion provides you with a wide range of solid benefits that you simply can't find anywhere else. You may already know that it's a strong and lightweight material, but there is a whole world of other benefits to consider when you're using fiberglass pultrusion products for your next project.
Here's a quick glance at some of the many features fiberglass has to offer:
- Corrosion Resistance - Does your project involve working in a harsh environment? Fiberglass pultrusion offers superior corrosion resistance when exposed to a wide range of materials, both acidic and alkaline.
Compared to many materials in this environment, it offers a longer useful lifespan while improving worker safety and reducing maintenance labor and costs for the facility. Because of this, it doesn't have to be replaced or repaired as often as other materials, lowering your overall cost performance during operations. It also provides options for outdoor storage, allowing you to keep it in areas with acid rain where other materials would not fare as well.
- Electromagnetic Transparency - Today's world is all about wireless connectivity, and being able to use your communication tools in your work environment is an essential part of being a modern, digitized enterprise.
Fiberglass pultrusion has exceptional electromagnetic transparency, which is why we began our company using it to create CB antennas over 20 years ago. Radio waves, whether in the form of traditional two-way radios, cell phones, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth connections, can easily penetrate fiberglass products, delivering superior connectivity over steel, aluminum, concrete, masonry, and a wide range of other materials.
- Lightweight - When you need high performance and strength in a lightweight material, few products can outperform fiberglass pultrusion. At 20% of the weight of comparable steel and 60% the weight of comparable aluminum, it delivers strong performance while reducing shipping costs and energy costs to transport.
At the same time, its light weight makes it easy to handle during installation, reducing your labor costs. If your project involves retrofitting an area that has lost some of its structural strength or was originally under-engineered for weight-bearing capacity, pultruded fiberglass products deliver the performance you need at a fraction of the weight of other materials.
- Consistent Cross Section - The fiberglass pultrusion process allows for ultra-fine tolerances for your project. Pultrusion draws the fiberglass material through a heated preforming tool before further machining the product down to extremely exact dimensions.
Combined with the superior dimensional stability of pultruded fiberglass products, this provides you with a material that won't bind up, catch, or rub on other parts of your assembly. This also reduces or eliminates the need for customized milling in the field to get a product that is close to tolerances, but not close enough, into use.
- High Strength - If your project demands solid structural design, fiberglass pultrusion outperforms many materials on the market. It has exceptional strength under high impact, making it a great option for protecting other surfaces that may be less durable, such as loading docks, medical facilities, and school gymnasiums.
When combining flexure, tension, and compression, the unit strength of fiberglass pultrusion is about 20 times what you'd see in steel based on weight density. This allows you to provide superior strength to your project without adding significant weight to a questionable foundation.
- Electrical Insulation - There's a reason why electricians use tools with fiberglass handles and fiberglass ladders to get the job done. If you're in an environment where electrical shock protection is essential, no material performs as well as fiberglass pultrusion products.
Fiberglass is a non-conductive material that still delivers superior strength, rigidity, and performance. It's also non-magnetic and has a consistent insulation rating against electrical shock, making it a sure bet for your project specifications.
- Superior Dimensional Stability - Unlike other building materials, fiberglass pultrusion provides superior dimensional stability. It doesn't warp, stretch, or swell; it just stays exactly how you need it.
If your project demands close tolerances or reduced damage to structural components, fiberglass delivers solid results. Even under high stress, it never forms a permanent set point, providing years of reliable service that's just as good as the day you installed it and reducing or eliminating the need for additional maintenance.
- Thermal Insulation - When the feature you're installing needs to maintain thermal properties through a wall cavity or on a surface, fiberglass pultrusion delivers strong performance.
It has 1/250 the thermal conductivity of aluminum and 1/60 that of steel, drastically reducing thermal transmittance in a project. For this reason, it also reduces condensation buildup, which can be problematic in some situations, while reducing overall insulation needs.
- Easy to Work With - Fiberglass pultrusion products are among the easiest materials to handle and work with due to their strength and rigidity. It can be worked with tools similar to those used for hardwood lumber, such as hardened steel drill bits and diamond-coated saw blades.
Its light weight makes it easy to get into position and keep it there while it's being fastened. The combination of these properties makes it easy to handle, work with, and install for your project.
As you can see, fiberglass pultrusion offers a number of benefits for your next project, many of which you may not have considered yet. But this quick list isn't the end of the information you can discover to determine whether fiberglass pultrusion products are right for your business.
If you need more information about our high-quality fiberglass products, we're ready to help. Please feel free to contact the experienced professionals at Tencom today to get started.