glass fibre

fibreglass

 or glass fibre

Fibrous form of glass, developed in the 1930s. Liquid glass issues in fine streams through hundreds of fine nozzles, and the solidifying streams are gathered into a single strand and wound onto a spool. Strands can be twisted into yarns, woven into fabrics, or chopped into short pieces and then bonded into mats. Glass filaments and yarns add strength and electrical resistivity to molded plastic products. Glass fabrics are used as electrical insulators and as reinforcing belts in automobile tires. Discontinuous fibres are formed into wools, mats, or boards, commonly used in buildings, appliances, and plumbing.

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fiberglass, fibrous glass, glass fiber

Filaments of glass, formed by pulling or spinning molten glass into random lengths; either gathered in a wool-like mass or formed as continuous thread-like filaments having diameters in the range of 10 to 30 µ m. The wool-like material is processed into many forms of varying densities for use as thermal and acoustical insulation. The continuous-filament type is used for textiles, glass fabrics, and electrical insulation and as reinforcement for other materials.