JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #120 - April 2018 - 29

BUlLDlNG AND CONSTRUCTlON
pultrusion

Opportunities for composite profiles
in the residential housing market
An industry report published in September 2017 by EPTA, the
European Pultrusion Technology Association, highlighted a large
growth potential for pultruded composite profiles in the residential
housing market, in particular for green and sustainable homes.
dr elMAr witten,
General Secretary
EPTA

W

Excellent structural
properties and quality
Since pultrusion allows for extremely high
fibre loadings and accurately-controlled
resin contents, pultruded parts have excellent
structural properties and are produced with a
consistently high quality. A range of reinforcing fibres, and formats, can be used, including
glass and carbon fibres, and a variety of
thermoset matrix resins, including polyester,
epoxy and vinyl ester, as well as thermoplastic
resins.

Applications in the
residential housing market
Pultruded glass fibre composites are viewed as
a new material option that can meet the most
stringent demands and offers manufacturers,
dealers and distributors the ability to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive
marketplace. The low maintenance, durability
and high strength characteristics of pultruded
composites are attractive to both home
owners, who want to reduce maintenance
time and expense, and contractors wanting to
reduce service recalls.
This has led to opportunities for pultruded
composites to replace wood, PVC and

aluminium in a variety of other applications
including exterior trim, decking, columns,
pergolas and arbours, as well as railings, fencing and decking.
Energy-efficient
windows and doors
Pultruded glass fibre composites were introduced to the window market in the 1980s.
They were initially employed in individual
components but all-composite framing systems were gradually developed.
Composite frames enable the production
of window systems with very low U factors,
delivering significant energy savings for the
home owner. Composites also meet the
needs of designers and builders wishing to
go beyond the limitations inherent to wood,
PVC or metal frames.
As an excellent thermal insulator, they limit
thermal bridging, thus reducing condensation
and subsequent mould issues. Pultruded
frames exhibit superior dimensional stability
in hot and cold environments and will not
warp, expand or shrink. The low coefficient of

Window profiles - an emerging market for pultruded
elements

N°120 April 2018

/ jec composites magazine

Feature Building and Construction

hile pultruded glass fibre composites were widely unknown in the
building and construction market
25 years ago, more and more architects,
engineers and builders are now discovering
their benefits and finding ways to incorporate
them around the home. The properties of
pultruded profiles make them well suited to
numerous applications in the residential housing market, where they provide strong and
durable solutions, outperforming traditional
materials for many years now. This has led to
their successful adoption in energy-efficient
window and door systems, and now in a
further range of applications such as exterior
trim, decking, pergolas, columns and fencing.
Composite profiles also present excellent potential for the building of affordable housing,
a growing demand worldwide. As they offer a
combination of properties not available with
traditional building materials, and attractive
attributes for green builders, the prospects for
pultruded profiles are bright.

A number of standards have been developed
covering the design, fabrication and installation of pultruded profiles. These include
the Pre-Standard for Load & Resistance
Factor Design (LRFD) of Pultruded Fibre
Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Structures
developed by the American Composites
Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE),
and European Standard EN 13 706, which
specifies minimum requirements for the quality, tolerances, strength, stiffness and surface
of structural profiles. Other codes currently in
use are the Eurocomp Design Guide and the
CUR96 in the Netherlands. Work towards
new European technical specifications for
the design and verification of composite
structures used in buildings, bridges and construction works is currently being conducted
by Working Group WG4 "Fibre Reinforced
Polymers" under the European Committee
for Standardisation (CEN) Technical
Committee 250 (CEN/TC250).

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #120 - April 2018
