Fiberglass, the diameter of an individual thread ranges from a few microns to more than 20 microns, which is equivalent to 1/20-1/5 of a hair, and each bundle of fibers consists of hundreds or even thousands of fibers. . As you can imagine, the fibers are very small. However, don't be fooled by its size. They are small but powerful enough.

"People may think of fiberglass as a low-tech product, but adjusting its composition for properties is cutting-edge chemistry," said University of Pennsylvania professor John Mauro.

This material was first known as building insulation. To date, its greatest application is in insulating and reinforcing composites. Wind turbine blades, jet skis and thousands of other products are strong and light because they are made of fiberglass. Many people are not even aware that glass is produced and used in the form of fibers. It goes unnoticed, but is a common material needed for modern life.

In terms of "best practice" it is used in the field of therapy. In recent years, scientists have been working on the research and development of bioactive glass nanofibers for animals and humans, and have successfully extracted nanofibers from bioactive glass species through laser spinning technology. Fiber heals chronic skin ulcers and deep wounds. The antimicrobial fibers, which are gradually dissolved and absorbed by the tissue, release biologically active ions in the wound, which stimulate the growth of blood vessels and promote tissue healing. This technology has a great future.

So, how is fiber produced?

To form fibers with a diameter of 5 to 20 microns, manufacturers feed molten glass into extrusion equipment, which passes the molten glass through a nozzle with thousands of tiny holes. The preparation and processing steps differ depending on the type of fiber being produced. For example, the production of glass wool fibers for insulation was originally similar to the production of marshmallows. The fine molten glass flows out horizontally through holes in a rotating spinning drum and quickly solidifies, after which they are pulverized by a blast of air and blown onto a moving conveyor belt, where they are collected and formed into insulating products such as wool, pillows and boards.

The key to fiber quality is the quality of the molten glass. In addition to ensuring the quality of raw materials, manufacturers will choose pure molybdenum electrodes with high purity, corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance for use in glass melting electric furnaces for glass melting. In this way, finished products such as fibers and glass bottles will not have defects after production, such as coloring, stripes, etc.