Mikhail M. Girgis

Impregnated Fiber Glass Yarns for Reinforcing Industrial Coated Fabrics

A novel, proprietary, polymeric coating has been developed to impregnate glass fibers to form HercuFlex™ strands. These strands have been woven or knitted into fabrics. The physical properties of these fabrics have been determined and compared to conventional fabrics made of fiber glass yarns or organic fibers. The effects of tem perature, humidity, U.V. radiation, and chemical environment on the strength and flexibility of the strands as well as the fabrics were investigated and compared. Per formance requirements of reinforced coated fabrics for roofing and tension support structures have been found to be satisfied by woven or knitted fiber glass impreg nated yarns (HercuFlex™ strands) as the main reinforcing material Also, HercuFlex™ fabrics have great potential for high performance geotextiles and other industrial fabrics applications.