How Is Glass Made?

Glass fibre is manufacture through an extreme temperature process where silica based, or a different formulation of glass, are extruded into fine diameter strands of yarn suitable for textiles fibre processing.

Glass fibre yarns can be produced in a couple of ways, through direct yarn formulation in one process, or by re-melting pre-formed glass marbles. 

During the marble process silica-based solids are melted in a furnace and formed into balls, which are then cooled and stored to be processed into yarns later. This will then follow the same method as the direct process. The direct process consists of melting the solid in a furnace and directly extruding liquid through tubes of varying diameter depending on the yarn tex being produced. If continuous filament fibre is being produced it will simply be extruded, cooled and spun onto bobbins ready for processing. To produce a textured yarn, after extrusion, it will be subject to a process of air-blowing. This process will ‘fluff’ up the fibre, giving it the textured appearance which gives it a thicker form and better insulation properties. 

Continuous filament yarns are mainly used by THS for polymer coated product, due to the smooth surface of these continuous filament fabrics the resulting finish is a consistent, evenly distributed coating. The main coatings THS combine with continuous filament yarns are, but not limited to, silicone rubber, PU and PTFE.

Textured yarns are mainly used for dispersion, or ‘dipped’ treatments, due to the larger surface area of the yarns they have a higher absorption rate of the compound. The main dispersion treatment combined with textured yarns at THS are vermiculite treated known as the Weldblock range.