20th April 2020
Glassflake has an extensive history of use through aerospace composites and coatings. The high aspect ratio of glassflake, with associated high surface area, provide performance enhancement to a range of aerospace components. As a glass, the material has excellent thermal stability and this is imparted to any coating or composite containing glassflake. The benefits of glassflake continue through to mechanical reinforcement, also critical in many of these application areas. This ensures that flight surfaces have excellent durability in service, through to passenger facing components such as seatbacks and lockers.
Fire retardancy of cabin interior components is a crucial consideration in protecting passengers and crew. Glassflake improves the fire rating of many parts, such as carpets or seatbacks – reducing their initial susceptibility to flames and lessening the emission of toxic smoke in the event of a fire. The mechanical reinforcement offered by glassflake in a composite provides increased durability and extends the lifespan of many features. Artificial leather coatings are an excellent example, where glassflake improves surface finish to give the desired aesthetics.
Recommended Products: GF001, GF001-10
As with many other areas, glassflake is used in aerospace coatings to improve performance and durability. With multiple overlapping layers of glassflake formed within the coating film, a barrier to permeation and corrosion is created. These performance benefits are available even in clear coating films, since glassflake is both clear and has a neutral mass tone. Glassflake, or borosilicate, is the ideal substrate for effect pigments to create the most eye-catching aircraft branding.
Recommended Products: GF100M, Astral Effect Series
Glassflake is becoming an integral part of many critical aerospace designs, as the industries targets a move away from alloys and towards lightweight composites. At low loadings, glassflake provides excellent mechanical reinforcement to composites, making them suitable for use in new aircraft. These composites achieve excellent thermal stability, because of the high surface area of glassflake. This stability ensures they are able to perform near to heat spots by jet engines or in extreme cold during high altitude cruise. The tailored sizes of glassflake ensure they are suitable for all manufacturing processing from vacuum resin infusion to additive manufacturing (3D printing).
Recommended Products: GF100M, GF001
