The global producer of glass-fiber yarns and glass-fiber reinforcements, AGY, and CTG/Taishan Fiberglass, one of the world’s largest glass fiber manufacturers, started the production of the new glass-fiber material S-1 HM. The material was developed by AGY and will be produced by CTG/Taishan Fiberglass. S-1 HM is mechanically superior to E-Glass, alumino-borosilicate glass with less than 1 % w/w alkali oxides, mainly used for glass-reinforced plastics, but much less expensive than the higher performance glasses such as AGY’s S-2.

S-1 HM is produced for the wind energy market. Using a proprietary new glass formulation, its rovings are the highest tensile modulus glass fibers available, at 90 GPa, as measured by ASTM D2343. Typical E-Glass products offer tensile modulus of 70–75 GPa, competitive higher performance glass fibers offer tensile modulus of 80–85 GPa. The property improvements will enable manufacturers to make larger blades, which produce more energy. The S-1 HM rovings are specifically aimed at areas of the blade where high-performance glass will allow weight to be saved, for example, in the spar and spar caps, leading and trailing edge and blade root. When compared to competitive higher performance glass reinforcements, S-1 HM rovings show a 30 % increase in tensile strength, a 10 % increase in tensile modulus, a 12 % increase in compressive strength, and a 10 % increase in compressive modulus.
The companies think that S-1 HM will also be an excellent fit for composite manufacturers in a wide variety of markets.

• AGY, Aiken, SC, USA
• CTG/Taishan Fiberglass Inc., Shandong, P.R. China