Which fiberglass is stronger

[mccoytr]

Fiber guys
Which is stronger, the fiberglass mat or woven? I will be using epoxy and the stronger fiberglass to rebuild my deck lids. All of them are cracked on the hinge side. Opinions and adviced needed.

 

[a1964rn]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

The strength is in the epoxy. The fiberglass is used to build thickness. 1708 or 1208 biax is what most folks use. I would use the 1208 biaxial from US Composites. It's easier to work with and wets out easier.
Specialty Fabrics

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

Mat is just loose strands glued together and woven is a fabric. Mat can be pulled apart with your hands with ease... not so much with woven.

Here's a good selection of different cloth, read the product description to the left to help you choose the product you want:

http://www.uscomposites.com/cloth.html

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

Fiber guys
Which is stronger, the fiberglass mat or woven? I will be using epoxy and the stronger fiberglass to rebuild my deck lids. All of them are cracked on the hinge side. Opinions and adviced needed.

Which woven are you talking about ? Woving Roving .. or woving finish cloth ?

Woving is much stronger than mat but really has no bonding abilities. Finish cloth just does not belong on a boat unless your using it for a nonskid deck pattern. Mat has Some strength and high bond abilities. As far as using Epoxy with woving only .. I will let the Epoxy experts that say not to use mat chime in on that.

YD.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

It is not necessary to use Mat with epoxy. The experts here on the forum advise that it's a waste of material and resin. With epoxy only Cloth is required.

 

[pauloman]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

strength comes from as much cloth and as little epoxy as necessary (ask any surfboard builder). You might also consider using a kevlar, feldspar epoxy paste for max strength - like wet dry 700 (tm) - it is thick but it will wet out the fiberglass cloth (often used with fiberglass cloth for pipe wraps at chemical plants etc. )

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

strength comes from as much cloth and as little epoxy as necessary (ask any surfboard builder). You might also consider using a kevlar, feldspar epoxy paste for max strength - like wet dry 700 (tm) - it is thick but it will wet out the fiberglass cloth (often used with fiberglass cloth for pipe wraps at chemical plants etc. )

And where do you get this Kevlar ?

YD.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Which fiberglass is stronger

good old Uscomposites.com

CARBON FIBER - GRAPHITE - KEVLAR