Mr. Drew Walker, President and CEO of AGY (left) shakes hands with Mr. Zhiyao Tang, Chairman and President of CTG/Taishan Fiberglass (right) confirming the partnership between AGY and CTG/Taishan to produce S-1 HM glass fiber.
AGY, a leading global producer of glass fiber yarns and glass fiber reinforcements, in conjunction with CTG/Taishan Fiberglass, has announced the start of production of S-1 HM glass.
Developed by AGY and produced by CTG/Taishan, the material will fill the cost and performance gap between traditional E-Glass products and higher performance glasses such as AGY’s S-2 Glassproducts. CTG/Taishan has scheduled the completion of a new furnace for the end of the second quarter of 2014, with commercial availability of S-1 HM glass fiber rovings beginning the third quarter of 2014.
CTG/Taishan Fiberglass is one of the world’s largest glass fiber manufacturers whose main focus is supplying the highest quality glass fiber to its customers at the best price and with the best service.
“We have worked closely together [with AGY] on deciding the optimum timing and business conditions for bringing the S-1 HM product to market. We believe that time is now,” says Mr. Zhiyao Tang, chairman and president of CTG/Taishan Fiberglass.
AGY’s S-1 HM glass was developed primarily for the wind energy market with input from blade and turbine manufactures, and it has been tested in an array of epoxy and vinyl ester systems in turbine blades.
“The excellent balance of performance and cost of S-1 HM glass will enable manufacturers to optimize the design of wind blades, generating a lower weight solution, or additional length to a blade with no additional weight,” says Drew Walker, CEO of AGY. “The ability to add length to a wind turbine blade allows the turbine to operate at 100% efficiency over a wider range of wind speeds, which in turn can reduce the cost of electricity generated.”
While AGY and CGT/Taishan are targeting the wind energy market with S-1 HM, they both believe the material has potential for many other industrial applications.
“Since S-1 HM glass is mechanically superior to E-Glass, but much less expensive than the extremely high-end glasses, we feel that S-1 HM will be an excellent fit for composite manufacturers in a wide variety of markets,” says Walker.
AGY
www.agy.com
CTG/Taishan Fiberglass
www.ctgf.com
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