Composite Pipes

The most known and used composite parts are pipes of course. More specifically, glass fibers also called GRP pipes are used in the industry for many applications. Some of the industries that mostly use composite pipes are oil and gas, construction to carry materials or systems in composite pipes.

Composite Pipes

Depending on the application, composite materials provide different capabilities to the pipes for different applications. Required isolation, mechanical properties, or reduced weight can be easily adapted to the system with composite pipes. For instance, the oil and gas industry uses glass fiber-covered pipes to prevent affecting systems because of the temperature change.

In most the application, glass fiber is used for the pipes in many applications as GRP pipes (Glass Reinforced Polymer) because of its lightweight and isolation properties. Glass fiber cables and pipes are very common examples of composite pipes.

Filament Winding

Filament winding is the most popular and efficient solution for general industrial composite pipe manufacturing. Composite glass fiber pipes can be manufactured with automated filament winding machines easily. Desired fiber orientations and isolation characteristics are provided with the machine and the resins.

In some applications, carbon fiber can be used in addition to the glass fibers to provide required material properties. It is known that carbon fiber has high stiffness and lower weight than glass fiber, therefore sometimes it can be helpful to meet requirements by using carbon fiber.

Glass and carbon fixed pipes can achieve high mechanical properties and can provide lower weight with thinner thicknesses. However, it must be taken into account that carbon fiber is more expensive than glass fiber and it may not help to the overall cost.