After the construction of one of the most important pedestrian bridges, completely made of fiberglass (more information on fiberglass) in Prato – in Tuscany, Saimex, a leading company in the production of composite materials, has acquired a new contract to pave the pedestrian bridge at the railway station in Cesano Maderno and in Belluno.
The pedestrian bridges have a length of 25 x 3 meters and SaimexDecksystem is mounted on them as bridge deck (GFRP).
The Decksystem is composed of pultruded fiberglass reinforced structural decks with a width of 50 cm and a length of 6 m. These decks are Interlocked and ensure a load-bearing capacity of 600 kg per square metre with a free span of 1.5 m.
Decksystem of Saimex S.r.l. is equipped with a frost and wear-resistant anti-slip system, especially suited for high traffic areas. Decksystem is composed of 70% to 75% fiberglass roving and fabric and is manufactured using the pultrusion process – a pulling system for continuous fiber, producing profiles of constant cross-section, even complex ones – complying with EN13706.
The advantages of pavers made by Decksystem are lightness, ease of processing, material durability and very low maintenance costs. Decksystem is not subject to corrosion and is 100 % waterproof.
Combining this paver with a supporting reticular structure in pultruded fiber-reinforced profiles (FRP), the reduction in maintenance costs is really significant.
What is fiberglass?
There are many different types of fibers which are used according to their characteristics.
The fiberglass is largely used for the production of structural composites in the sailing industry, in the automotive field and so on, associated with different dies, such as synthetic resins. They are not usually used for the production of composites with metallic or ceramic dies due to their high cost of production. In addition to the technological problem related to high temperatures, the use of fibers offering better performance, for example carbon fibers,is therefore preferred.
In the field of civil engineering the fiberglass is used for the production of fiber cement panels.
