| abstract |
Dried bundles of chopped glass fibers are provided that can be used in mat forming applications. The chopped glass fiber bundles 42 are formed of individual glass fibers 12 positioned in a substantially parallel orientation. The dried chopped glass fiber bundles may be applied to a sized composition to thin glass fibers, to split the fibers to obtain a bundle tex, to cut the wet glass bundles into individual lengths, and to wet the wet glass bundles into a dielectric oven, Cratec By drying in an oven or rotary tray oven. Alternatively, the dried chopped glass bundles may comprise sizing the thin glass fibers, passing the sized fibers through a heat transfer chamber, and the air heated by the bushings enters the heat transfer chambers to dry the glass fiber bundles. Splitting the bundled glass fiber bundles to obtain the desired bundle tex, and cutting the dried bundle of glass fibers. The sizing composition may comprise at least one film former selected from the group consisting of polyurethane film formers, unsaturated polyesters or epoxy resins. |