Weaving
Composite Components: The String And The Glue
Fibers — whether glass, carbon or more esoteric varieties like aramid — are the backbone of composites. A single glass filament, thinner than a human hair, has a tensile strength of approximately 500 ksi/3.5 GPa, but essentially no compressive strength. To achieve a structural building material, fibers are enc
Read MoreOther Applications Expand
A growing area in the offshore world is the refitting or “recycling” of older oil platforms to support additional production. A particularly active area for recycling is in the North Sea, where additional pipelines can be run to existing rigs for about $1 million (as opposed to spending $20 million for a new r
Read MoreFiber Reinforcement Types
Because small-diameter filaments are extremely fragile, they are supplied in bundles. The terminology for identifying these bundles varies, based on the type of fiber. Glass and aramid fiber bundles are called strands, rovings or yarns. In current usage, a “strand” is a collection of continuous filaments and a
Read MoreComposites Used For Repair by Statoil
Statoil has used composites to repair steel topside components for more than 10 years on the Statfjord and Gullfaks platforms, using wet layup methods designed for each application, says Melve. “We repaired four water lines at an onshore oil storage facility between 1983 and 1987,” he says. “After nine years,
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