Glass Fibers: Are They Going to Reshape Industries with Innumerous Possibilities?

Highlights:

• Introduction
• Various use cases of glass fibers across industries
• Ahlstrom’s new glass fiber tissue line
• Some key acquisitions in the industry

Glass fiber is a special type of synthetic fiber that consists of extremely fine fibers of glass. It is also known as fiber glass. This innovative material is lightweight, strong, and less brittle. Due to these unique properties, glass fiber can be molded into various complex shapes. Furthermore, they exhibit useful properties including hardness, transparency, inertness, stability, and resistance to chemical attack. It also possesses some desirable properties such as strength, flexibility, and stiffness. Such features make it a beneficial material for a wide range of applications across various sectors including aerospace, construction, textile, electronics, medical applications, and many more.  

Diverse applicability of glass fibers promoting various industrial applications

Glass fibers are widely used as reinforcement in composite materials including carbon fiber composites and hybrid composites. These composite materials are created by combining reinforcement and a matrix. Such combinations of fibers and matrix offer superior properties. They are robust, stiffer, and lighter than metal parts. Because of this they are widely used for window strengthening. Composites are used to make vinyl windows that can withstand strong winds, inclement weather, and even fire. These reinforcement windows can endure high temperatures of 300 °F and as low as -50 °F.

Furthermore, fiberglass bars have gained huge popularity as building materials to produce non-slip walking surfaces. They are mostly used in a wide range of applications including cladding, surface coating, and roofing raw materials.

On the other hand, glass fibers are widely used in aerospace and aircraft applications. They are used as primary substrate for the interior structure of the fuselage in several types of aircraft. Many important parts of aircraft highly rely on fiberglass because of its strength, corrosion resistance, dimensional stability, and lightweight nature. E-glass and S-2 glass are two types of fiberglass that are mainly used in aerospace applications. These two types of glasses offer fiber toughness, impact resistance, and comprehensive and tensile modulus for various aerospace applications such as cargo liners, helicopter rotor blades, ducting, aircraft flooring, tooling, structural aircraft parts, and enclosures.

Glass fibers have shown their prominence in the automotive and transportation sector. They play a major role in reducing the weight of vehicles and improving their strength-to-weight ratios. These fibers are three times less dense than steel, displaying a high level of tensile strength. They also increase sound dampening and fire resistance. Because of these properties, they are particularly used for brake pads and clutches. Glass fibers also act as a key component in high-tech and high-performance automotive electronics, and they can be used for producing fiberglass-reinforced tires.

Moreover, these fibers have found their applications in the energy sector too. Many power generation industries rely on fiberglass due to its non-conductive properties. It can withstand extreme environmental conditions and provide excellent temperature insulation. For instance, mica-backed glass tapes insulate turbines and electric motors. Additionally, fiberglass fabrics are used in a wide range of applications including spray shields, heat reflectors, thermal blankets, sound dampening, and pipe wrapping applications.

Ahlstrom’s new glass fiber tissue line for robust construction activities

In October 2023, Ahlstrom, one of the leading players in sustainable and innovative fiber solutions announced the launch of its new glass fiber tissue line for high-performance building materials in the U.S. This grand opening was celebrated by the key stakeholders and representatives of Ahlstrom. As the demand for high-performance and sustainable building material is increasing, Ahlstrom aims to continue its glass fiber tissue business and strengthen its manufacturing platform globally. For this, the company completes a major investment at its plant in Madisonville, KY, U.S. In May 2021, Ahlstrom made a huge investment to expand its building materials manufacturing capabilities to support customers globally. In the past five years, the company has invested more than $100 million in the Madisonville site.

How are leading players in the domain transforming the industry landscape?

To stay ahead in the competitive landscape, several leading players in the glass fiber industry have made alliances which include partnerships, collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions. For instance, in November 2023, Creative Composites Group, a leading, manufacturer of fiber-reinforced polymer composites announced its acquisition of United Fiberglass America Inc., a manufacturer of fiberglass pipe, conduit, and bridge drain infrastructure systems. With this acquisition, the companies aimed to provide durable fiberglass conduit products to support public utility, transportation, commercial, and technology industries.

Similarly, in July 2023, Pulltrall Inc., a leading Canadian manufacturer of glass fiber rebar announced its acquisition of Fiberglass Innovations, a renowned American manufacturer of a wide range of pultruded fiberglass products. This acquisition would help Pulltrall to extend its presence and reinforce its production capacity across the North America region.

To conclude, rapid urbanization has increased the demand for sustainable construction materials which is expected to increase the demand for glass fibers in the coming years. Furthermore, an increase in the use of glass fibers in automotive and aerospace sectors is anticipated to create wide growth opportunities for the sector in the future.

To identify potential investment opportunities in the glass fiber market, feel free to talk to our industry analysts today! They can help you develop new business strategies and initiatives.

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