Use Of Industrial Waste For The Production Of Reinforcing Glass Fibres For Plastic And Concrete Composite Materials

Glass fibres are well known reinforcing agents for different kinds of materials. For example, plastics, polyesters and epoxy resins can be reinforced with E glass fibres, bituminous materials with C glass fibres, whereas alkali resistant (AR) fibres are used in reinforced concrete. The price of conventional glass fibres is high because of the cost of raw materials and the high energy combustion during the melting process. A process that allows natural raw materials to be substituted with alternative ones such as inorganic industrial waste materials (with lower melting temperature) could be interesting because it would ensure energy and natural resources saving, and decrease the amount of industrial waste to be disposed of in landfills.