Abstract

Reinforced plastics, also known as fiber glass-reinforced plastics, glass-reinforced plastics, fiber glass, and composites, are a relatively small (5%) but very important part of the total plastics market. Common to all reinforced plastics are resin and reinforcement. Resins can be thermoplastic or thermosetting. Reinforcements are usually fibers of glass or other materials, and can be configured in many ways, such as continuous or chopped strands, milled fibers, rovings, mats, and woven fabrics. Reinforced plastics may also include fillers, curing agents, colorants, and other additives that impart specific properties. The selection process for a given application requires simultaneous consideration of product design, constituent materials, production requirements, and required physical, mechanical, and chemical properties.

The commonly used manufacturing processes include hand lay-up and spray-up; vacuum bag, pressure bag, and autoclave molding; resin-transfer and cold press molding; reaction injection molding; compression molding using bulk molding compound, sheet molding compound, wet systems, and reinforced thermoplastic sheet; injection molding; pultrusion; and filament winding. The successful use of reinforced plastics results from proper design, utilization of the benefits these materials offer, process selection, tooling cost advantages that fit the production needs, and consideration of life cycle economics.