History of GFRC

History of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC), in simplest terms, is the replacement of conventional large aggregate and steel rebar with a homogenously dispersed network of tiny strands of glass in a slurry of cement and sand. Concrete is used as a building material primarily because of its resistance to aging and its compressive strength. By using glass fibers as the matrix bound by cementitious adhesion, substantial increases in flexural, tensile and impact strengths are achieved without losing the superb aging properties of concrete.

The combination of cement and glass fibers allows the homoqenously reinforced part (GFRC) to be made much thinner than one with only intermittent reinforcement. This is the essence of the commercial attractiveness of GFRC. Products made from GFRC generally weigh only ten percent as much as conventional precast concrete products.

Early efforts to incorporate glass fiber in a concrete matrix date back to 1941. These efforts failed because the alkaline environment present in a portland cement composite rapidly eroded plain glass fibers. The Great Britain Building Research Establishment succeeded in making an alkaline- resistant (AR), glass fiber in 1967 by adding zirconia to the fiber manufacturing process. The AR process was further refired by the Pilkington Corporation in the U.K. Pilkington distributes the AR glass through existing channels of distribution in the U.S.

GFRC is more popular internationally than it is in the U.S. This is partially the result of having had more time to develop applications in the U.K., its Commonwealth, and Western Europe. However, its acceptance and use are growing very rapidly in the U.S. because of the distinct advantages and benefits provided by GFRC. Current American use is primarily for precast cladding panels for high-rise buildings. The first building to use GFRC in the U.S. was built in 1974. This application of GFRC has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 31- from 1978 to 1984.

The attractiveness of utilizing GFRC panels for the exterior facade of buildings is a natural extension of the trend in the building industry toward erecting prefabricated parts rather than "cutting and fitting" on site. The labor costs are reduced and the quality is enhanced by taking this approach. Finally, there is an expanded opportunity to increase the architectural. alternatives by utilizing the "moldability" of GFRC: composites, Parts can take any shape: deep reveals and complex rectilinear or curilinear shapes.

GFRC has been accepted and approved by the Congress of American Building Officials (CABO) and the International Congress of Building Officials (ICBO).

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