Wet Formed Mats and Veils

Owens Corning produces glass fiber non woven mats for use in composite surface applications, as well as for processing with other materials to make such applications as cushioned vinyl flooring, printed circuit boards, automotive headliners, battery separators, and roofing shingles. Contact Owens Corning for your specific application.

Both the wet-forming and dry-forming production processes are used in Owens Corning's specialized manufacturing facilities. In the wet-forming process, chemically-sized chopped glass fibers of the type, diameter and length suited to the customer's application are slurried in water and then spread uniformly across a fine mesh belt. This thin layer is impregnated with an appropriate resin binder, dried, cured and finally wound into rolls.

This wet-forming process produces economics of scale because of its relatively high throughput when compared to dry-laid mat manufacturing processes. It also offers a more consistent and uniform mat than other forming techniques. Finally, the wet-forming process allows glass fibers to be uniformly blended with other fibers to combine the properties of the different materials into a single engineered product. Wet-formed mats meet the needs of applications such as cushion vinyl flooring, where uniformity of fiber dispersion, thickness and porosity are of crucial importance.

In the dry-forming process, molten glass is pulled into the fine fibers and then cooled, chopped and evenly dispersed onto a mesh line. The binder is then added and cured. The end result of this dry process is a softer product, with a long-fiber open structure. It therefore offers the excellent mold-conformity required for processes such as hand lay-up or resin transfer molding, plus the wet-out needed for filament wound applications.

Owens Corning, One Owens Corning Parkway. Tel: 419-248-7367; Fax: 419-325-3367.