2/26/2014 Did You Know? Thermal FRP Expansion

http://www.beetleplastics.com/blog/bid/277567/Did-You-Know-Thermal-FRP-Expansion 1/2

Over 50 years of fiberglass experience

Home

About

Services

Resources

Blog

Request a Quote

Contact

Current Articles | RSS Feed

Did You Know? Thermal FRP Expansion

Posted by Matthew Mettry on Thu, Apr 04, 2013 @ 10:00 AM

According to the Composites Growth Initiative of the American

Composites Manufacturing Association (ACMA), the

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion is the change in length (or

volume) per unit length (or volume) produced by a one degree

Celsius rise in temperature.

While it is commonly thought that the thermal expansion of

fiberglass is several times higher than carbon steels, this is not

always the case and its an important fact that engineers cant

ignore. According to the American Society of Mechanical

Engineers (ASME) B31.3 standard, FRP is at most 2.5 times

that of carbon steel and at most 1.67 times that of stainless

steels and, with some filament wound fiberglass reinforced

plastics the difference is much less.

The rate of thermal expansion in FRP products is highly dependent upon the amount of glass in the product and

the orientation of the glass. Again, according to ASME, this is because the thermal expansion of the resin is

approximately 2.0 - 3.5 x 10-5 in./in./EF and the thermal expansion of the glass is only 0.28 x 10-5 in./in./EF.

Table 1

Typical Thermal Expansion Coefficients (valid up to 300F)

FRP 0.9- 1.5 x 10-5 in./in./EF

Carbon Steels

0.6 - 0.65 x 10-5

in./in./EF

Austenitic Stainless Steels

0.9 - 0.95 x 10-5

in./in./EF

2/26/2014 Did You Know? Thermal FRP Expansion

http://www.beetleplastics.com/blog/bid/277567/Did-You-Know-Thermal-FRP-Expansion 2/2

90/10 Cu-Ni 0.9 - 0.95 x 10-5

in./in./EF

70/30 Cu-Ni

0.8 - 0.85 x 10-5

in./in./EF

Source: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, B31.3 Standard

Beetle Plastics fiberglass pipe is filament wound and, therefore, has different thermal expansion in the hoop and

axial direction. In the hoop direction, the thermal expansion is about the same as steel. However, in the axial

direction, the thermal expansion of the fiberglass pipe is about twice that of steel.

When designing FRP pipe systems there are other important considerations that will be influenced by the

thermal expansion. According to a case study released by the Fluid Sealing Association in 2006, Mechanical

considerations also are important. Since FRP is a composite, there are two distinctive axial modulii of elasticity:

compression and tensile. The axial compression modulus of elasticity varies from3 to 10 percent that of steel.

Similarly, another design consideration should be the relatively low modulus of elasticity of FRP pipe. Its an

advantage of FRP which should be figured into the design of a piping system.

To view the 2009 edition of the ASME B31.3 Process Piping Guide follow the link below:

http://engstandards.lanl.gov/esm/pressure_safety/process_piping_guide_R2.pdf

Contact us to learn more about our FRP and how we can help you meet your goals.

Beetle Plastics

Tags: fiberglass reinforced plastic

Comments have been closed for this article.

2014 Beetle Plastics. | PO Box 1569, Ardmore, OK 73402 | Tel | Fax 580.389.5424

Inbound Marketing by Top Line Results