FRP or GRP Cable Ladder/Tray

General
Known as glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) in Britain, fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) in the USA, or by the trade name fibreglass (after the manufacturing company Fibreglass Ltd.), GRP has been used for a wide range of applications from car body panels and boat hulls to furniture and tennis rackets. It has the virtue of a good weight to strength ratio, rust resistance, and ability to be moulded in a wide variety of ways. It became increasingly widely used in the post-Second World War period, a pioneering design being the celebrated DAR Armchair by Charles and Ray Eames for the 1948 Low-Cost Furniture Design Competition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Very much paralleled by the organic forms found in much contemporary product, train, and automobile design in Italy, the flowing, sculptural form of the seat (supported on a metal frame) expressed the creative possibilities of the new medium. These were realized in subsequent designs such as Eero Saarinen's elegant Tulip armchair of 1956. Verner Panton was another designer to explore the expressive qualities of the medium in his moulded, cantilevered chair of 1960 first manufactured in West Germany. Many furniture designs first manufactured in GRP have subsequently been manufactured in ABS plastic. Early use of GRP in automobile manufacture included the roof of the Citroen DS (1955) and the body panels of the Chevrolet Corvette (1953). From the 1970s improved production processes engendered more widespread uses in architecture and interior design, whether in terms of weather resistant details and services or bathrooms.





Definition of FRP Composites


Not all plastics are composites. In fact, the majority of plastics today are pure plastic, like toys and soda bottles. When additional strength is needed, many types of plastics can be reinforced (usually with reinforcing fibers). This combination of plastic and reinforcement can produce some of the strongest materials for their weight that technology has ever developed...and the most versatile.

Therefore, the definition of a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite is:
A combination of

- a polymer (plastic) matrix (either a thermoplastic or thermoset resin, such as polyester, isopolyester, vinyl ester, epoxy, phenolic)

- a reinforcing agent such as glass, carbon, aramid or other reinforcing material


such that there is a sufficient aspect ratio (length to thickness) to provide a discernable reinforcing function in one or more directions. FRP composite may also contain:

- fillers

- additives

- core materials


that modify and enhance the final product. The constituent elements in a composite retain their identities (they do not dissolve or merge completely into each other) while acting in concert to provide a host of benefits ideal for structural applications including:

High Strength and Stiffness Retention - composites can be designed to provide a wide range of mechanical properties including tensile, flexural, impact and compressive strengths. And, unlike traditional materials, composites can have their strengths oriented to meet specific design requirements of an application.

-Light Weight/Parts Consolidation - FRP composites deliver more strength per unit of weight than most metals. In fact, FRP composites are generally 1/5th the weight of steel. The composite can also be shaped into one complex part, often times replacing assemblies of several parts and fasteners. The combination of these two benefits makes FRP composites a powerful material system- structures can be partially or completely pre-fabricated at the manufacturer's facility, delivered on-site and installed in hours.

-Creep (Permanent Deflection Under Long Term Loading) - The addition of the reinforcement to the polymer matrix increases the creep resistance of the properly designed FRP part. Creep will not be a significant issue if the loads on the structure are kept below appropriate working stress levels.

-Resistance to Environmental Factors - Composites display excellent resistance to the corrosive effects of:
-Freeze-thaw: because composites are not attacked by galvanic corrosion and have low water absorption, they resist the destructive expansion of freezing water.

-Weathering and Ultra-Violet Light: FRP composite structures designed for weather exposure are normally fabricated with a surface layer containing a pigmented gel coat or have an ultraviolet (UV) inhibitor included as an additive to the composite matrix. Both methods provide protection to the underlying material by screening out UV rays and minimizing water absorption along the fiber/resin interface.

-Chemicals and Temperature: Composites do not rust or corrode and can be formulated to provide long-term resistance to nearly every chemical and temperature environment. Of particular benefit, is composites ability to successfully withstand the normally destructive effects of de-icing salts and/or saltwater spray of the ocean.



-Fire Performance of Composites - FRP composites can burn under certain conditions. Composites can be designed to meet the most stringent fire regulations by the use of special resins and additives. Properly designed and formulated composites can offer fire performance approaching that of most metals.