Trains, busses, metros, and trams all increasingly use glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). Its lightness, rigidity, and flexibility make it the perfect material for public transportation. To ensure fire safety, Parabeam 3D Glass Fabrics, a woven fabric out of fiberglass, can be combined with phenolic resin. The combination of the fiberglass with the resin provides an enormous improvement in fire safety. It even meets the criteria for the international Fire, Smoke, Toxidity (FST) standards. Public transportation all around the world is already equipped with fiberglass and phenolic resin, to contribute to the safety of transportation.

Source: busworld.org, parabeam
Image source: picturesforcoloring.com

More than 30 years later the car is back. It was displayed at the New York Auto Show, where it was showcased as the Alessi AR-1. The most obvious feature of the car is its fiberglass core material. The car’s body is entirely composed of fiberglass. This results in the car weighting only 1,450 kilograms. Furthermore, the authentic AR-1 has a Buick V6 mid-engine, and a 6.2-liter V8 engine which can produce up to 600 hp. If this is not enough, Alessi provides also a twin-turbo version which can produce up to 750 hp. The car is a limited edition as only 50 cars are produced. Further details and the pricing of the car will be announced closer to the production stage.

Source: www.rushlane.com 
Image source: styleguru 

The Main Hall’s concrete tower dome and window assembly are removed and replaced by a fiberglass reconstruction. The dome and window assembly look almost similar to the original ones. Every detail from the original components is also in the fiberglass components. The placement went relatively easy since only a few trucks and a crane were needed. Fiberglass composites are lightweight, making this placement easier than the placement of the concrete components 82 years ago.

Source: silive.com

Batmobile replicas are now for sale. These are not model kits or radio controlled cars but full-scale, drivable cars made out of fiberglass materials.The cars are equipped with steel wheel well tubs to protect the fiberglass material body from rocks. Heavy-walled

square tubing is used throughout the car for added strength. The cars also have working headlamps, turn signals, parking lamps and braking lights. This makes them drivable and functional cars. The car is used for all kinds of purposes. Some want a Batmobile to show off while picking up their kids from school. Some use it for charity events, or private museums , and others just want to drive it.

Source: Fiberglassfreaks.com  

Image: Fiberglassfreaks.com 

Although it is prohibited for Jews to build a replica of the BeisHamikdash, a full-size replica has been built for a movie set in the Saharan desert city of Ouarzata (Warzazat). This is Morocco’s film capital where Hollywood films like ‘The Ten Commandments’ and ‘Gladiator’ were shot.

The replica is a massive structure, built on a square kilometer of desert, fully composed out of fiberglass composite materials, without a single stone. The enormous pillars look like they weigh a ton but in fact only weigh about 1.5 gram, thereby highlighting one of the main features of fiberglass composite materials: reduction in weight. And the nominees for the Oscar are….

Source: Chabad.info 

So, when decorative elements on the rear façade of The White House needed to be restored, there was only one way to go: fiberglass materials.

More and more, fiberglass materials are being chosen over other materials to preserve historical buildings. The composite material is lightweight, cost-effective, corrosion resistant and virtually maintenance free. Fiberglass materials can also be painted or the color can be molded in the surface. It’s among the strongest commercial materials available – stronger than concrete, steel or aluminum. Finally restoration of buildings by using fiberglass materials can often reduce maintenance cost when compared to many other traditional building materials.

Source: Fiberglassafi.com 

Source photo: Blog.chron.com 

The application of fiberglass materials is, however, not restricted to high-tech racing components. Because fiberglass materials offer many advantages over other materials, such as strength & durability, affordability & cost-effectiveness, versatility & freedom of design as well as special physical properties, they are ideal for designing a wide array of automotive parts and accessories.

Some examples include: fiberglass hoods, fiberglass spoilers, fiberglass gauges, fiberglass doors, fiberglass speaker boxes, fiberglass fenders and much more!

Source: Fiberglass Sales 

Over 9,000 students entered the annual contest and the judges chose nine finalists based on their drawings. Life-size fiberglass materials cows were delivered to each school to be painted by the nine finalists.

The art students will have up to mid-April to complete their works of art when voting will begin to select the best fiberglass materials cow!

Source: AZCentral 

Elise learned to apply the fiberglass materials in order to produce the ideal ski to match her size and style. According to Elise, “Making skis is like making a cake with layers”.Instead of adding plastic sidewalls that give skis a “finished”look, this technique extends the core to the edge of the ski and seals it with urethane, a composite material.  This keeps the ski more torsionally stiff through the center with no weak spots. The fiberglass company operated the machinery that compressed the layers they had prepared into a mold that formed the camber and upturned tips.

The result: a fat ski that incorporates the latest design and technology. The skis are stable and have total wood cores without the metal that we find in mass-manufactured skis. “I feel more stable and don’t catch random edges. They’re really fun to ski.”

Source article: Tri City Herald
Source photo: Spokesman.com 

 From the 1940’s onwards, fiberglass composite material has became the most popular material for surfboards, thereby replacing wood. The transition to fiberglass materials as a principal material for surfboards, has brought some important improvements. Among the most prominent advantages are the reduction in weight, waterproofing and strength.

Source: AllaboutSurfboards.com
Image: Wikipedia