Materials
Fiberglass
Also Known As Glass-Reinforced Plastic (GRP)
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Fiberglass is a fiber-reinforced plastic made of fine glass filaments embedded in a resin matrix, combining the tensile strength of glass fiber with the moldability of plastic. Games Slayter of Owens-Illinois stumbled onto the mass-production method by accident in 1932, directing a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and drawing it into continuous fibers, a process Owens-Corning commercialized soon after.
Facts
Primary UseAircraft and boat hulls, automobile body panels, bathtubs and enclosures, swimming pools and hot tubs, septic and water tanks, roofing, pipes and cladding. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Fiberglass-reinforced plastic hulls became the standard construction for recreational and small commercial boats from the 1950s onward, replacing wood as the dominant hull material.
In Field
Sources
1. Fiberglass (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory sectionQuote, History section
Mass production of glass strands was accidentally discovered in 1932 when Games Slayter...directed a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and produced fibers.
1. Fiberglass (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationApplications sectionQuote, Applications section
Applications include aircraft, boats, automobiles, bath tubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic tanks, water tanks, roofing, pipes, cladding.
1. Fiberglass (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIntroductionQuote, Introduction
Other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), glass-fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) or GFK.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.