11 Facts About Glass fiber

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.

Glass fiber when used as a thermal insulating material is specially manufactured with a bonding agent to trap many small air cells, resulting in the characteristically air-filled low-density "glass wool" family of products.

Glass fiber has roughly comparable mechanical properties to other fibers such as polymers and carbon fiber.

Glass fiber reinforced composites are used in marine industry and piping industries because of good environmental resistance, better damage tolerance for impact loading, high specific strength and stiffness.

Glass fiber is formed when thin strands of silica-based or other formulation glass are extruded into many fibers with small diameters suitable for textile processing.

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Glass fiber first applied for a patent for a new process to make glass wool in 1933.

Glass fiber has increased in popularity since the discovery that asbestos causes cancer and its subsequent removal from most products.

However, the safety of glass fiber is being called into question, as research shows that the composition of this material can cause similar toxicity as asbestos.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, on the other hand, says that there is insufficient evidence, and that glass fiber is in group A4: "Not classifiable as a human carcinogen".

North American Insulation Manufacturers Association claims that glass fiber is fundamentally different from asbestos, since it is man-made instead of naturally occurring.

Glass fiber is extensively used for making FRP tanks and vessels.