05-03: The Impact of Veil Thickness and Coating on Cooling Tower FRP Composites

FRP Cooling Tower customers typically request thick synthetic surfacing veils and coated end cuts for their applications. The purpose of this experiment was to obtain an estimate of the property enhancement for these two FRP production operations which add to product cost. Strongwell has tested the impact of veil thickness on twelve inch columns exposed to room temperature water and on the compressive strength in retention after 1,000 hours of weathering. The veil thickness ranged from no veil to 13mils and revealed no advantage for increasing the veil thickness. Strongwell also performed another environmental study on the impact of coating for the bearing and compressive properties. The water exposure was at room temperature and 125°F revealing no performance advantage obtained from the coating.