GLASS AND CARBON REINFORCING FABRICS

DRIVE Marine Services offer a large range of glass and carbon reinforcing fabrics.  Most
wooden boats require some woven fabric and perhaps tape.  Wooden boats which use stitch and glue for their chines require the use of woven or double bias tape.  Composite construction uses a wide range of non-woven uni-axial, bi-axial, double bias, triaxial, and quadriaxial cloths and tapes.

Woven Fiberglass Cloth and Tape
This is a plain weave cloth made of ‘E’ Glass. This is the basic and most common textile weave. It is
firm and stable, has fair porosity, it is uniform in strength in all surface directions and is ideally suited
for covering large flat surfaces. A variety of widths and weights are available. Tapes have a selvedge
edge so the edges don’t get frayed. Cloth rolls have a nominal length of 100metres and tapes 50metres
(up to 50mm width) and 100metres for the larger widths. For complex and difficult shapes more
“conformable” clothes such as twill or satin weave are available.

Woven Glass Tape – Cut Lengths
155 grms/sq metre (4.6 oz/ sq yd) available in 38mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm and 150mm width. Up to
50mm, a full roll is 50 metres long. 75mm and above are 100metres in length.

Non Woven Cloths (Multi axial Knitted Fabrics)
These cloths have the fibres all laid in particular directions and then are then stiched lightly together.
This permits the designer to specify the direction of maximum strength. Since they are not woven, the
fibres lie flat and when under stress do not try to straighten out. They come as uni axial (the fibres run
along the length of the roll), bi-axial (half the fibres run along the length of the roll and half at right
angles). There is also double bias (half the fibres are at +45º to the length of the roll and half the fibres
at -45º and triaxial, which is double bias with a third layer of fibres running along the length of the
roll (warp triaxial) or across the roll (weft triaxial) and finally there is quadriaxial which is double bias
with a third layer of fibres along the roll and a fourth layer across the roll. Quadriaxial gives nearly
equal strength in all directions. Each is available in a range of weights.

Double Bias Tapes
These tapes are very useful along chines and other places where strength across a join is required
because all the fibres in the tape cross the join. Nominally 450 grms/ sq metre. They come in 100mm,
150mm and 200mm widths. A full roll is 90metres long.

Carbon Fibre Uniaxial Knitted Cloth.
Carbon fibre reinforced laminates exhibit high strength and very high modulus properties but are
susceptible to brittle facture and poor impact resistance. BoatCraft Pacific stocks 200gram per square
metre plain weave which is 1070 wide and a 150 grms /sq metre 610 wide uniaxial carbon fibre cloth.
This is useful for centreboards and rudders with the fibres aligned with the length of the blade.

Carbon Braid
A tubular braid that expands so that it can be slid over a mast, boom or oar etc from 20mm to 80mm
diameter and then epoxied into place. This provides extra stiffness to a spar.

Dynel Cloth
A woven cloth using polyester fibres instead of glass. Nominally of 105grms/ sq metre. It is used
where the extra abrasion and impact resistance of a reinforced coating is needed without the strength
and stiffness which glass fibre can supply. It is 100cm wide. Its elasticity can be of advantage when
resisting impacts and abrasion. It does not become fully translucent when immersed in epoxy resin and
it should not be used where you want to clear finish the underlying timber.

Related Pages
Fibreglass repair and osmosis

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