DOI 10.

1007/s10717-018-0071-0
Glass and Ceramics, Vol. 75, Nos. 7 – 8, November, 2018 (Russian Original, Nos. 7 – 8, July – August, 2018)

UDC 691.175.3:67.02

FIBERGLASS COATING TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCTION

OF WATER ATTRACTIONS

B. B. Bobovich1

Translated from Steklo i Keramika, No. 7, pp. 32 – 36, July, 2018.

The properties of reinforced polymer composite materials based on different types of polymer binders and
glass fiber fillers were studied. The recipe and production technology were developed for articles made from
fiberglass. This technology is based on a spraying assembly from the Glas Craft Company, combined with a
chopper — a high-output cutting machine from the Greco Company. It is shown that the spray technology for
producing from fiberglass, based on polyester resins and glass roving, large-size modules of water slides and
other attractions for pools and water parks is technically sound and economically efficient.

Key words: fiberglass, articles for water attractions, production technology, coating, design.

Reinforced polymer composite materials (RPCM) such
as fiberglass are widely used in the building of aircraft, auto-
mobiles, ships, and aerospace engineering structures. This is
associated with the high mechanical properties of these ma-
terials, which surpass in terms of the specific indices the
properties of other materials, including metal alloys. It
should also be noted that many RPCM possess excellent re-
sistance to corrosive media, including water [1 – 4].
Expensive forming tools are not required to make articles
from such materials — articles are produced using compara-
tively inexpensive matrices. Such materials are of special in-
terest in different fields for making large-size articles in
small series: automobile tuning, new hardware development
in machine engineering, transport equipment fabrication, and
in construction and other fields.
ing account of the topography of the site for an open water
park or architectural designs of an enclosed pool.
The RPCM fabrication technology makes it possible to
design not only components but also the material itself — its
properties and structure [6]. A fiberglass article is formed si-
multaneously with material itself, since the material is fabri-
cated from several components that enter into interaction at
the moment the article is formed. In other words, the material
does not exist before the article is formed.
During the transformation of the liquid composition into
a structural material, the composition solidifies owing to the
stretching of the oligomer resin molecules and their conver-
sion into polymers and formation of cross-links between the
polymer macromolecules. The correct choice of the compo-

FIBERGLASS WATER SLIDES

The high mechanical, physical-chemical, and technologi-

cal properties of fiberglass have made possible its wide use
in the manufacture of yachts, boats, pools, and different wa-
ter attractions. One of the most popular attractions in any wa-
ter park is the water slide (Fig. 1).
A water slide consists of modules with standard size and
shape; the assortment of modules is small. Using a personal
computer, modern software makes it possible to design from
these modules slides of any length, height, and geometry tak-
1
Moscow Polytechnic University, Moscow, Russia (e-mail:
boris0808@yandex.ru). Fig. 1. Fiberglass water slides in a water park [5].

275
0361-7610/18/0708-0275 © 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
276 B. B. Bobovich

TABLE 1. Effect of Polymer Binder on the Properties of Glass- The polymerization of resins is an exothermic process.
Filled Composites As a result the material is significantly heated up, which in
Resin the case of an incorrectly built forming technology can result
Index in significant internal stresses in the article and cracking of
phenol-formal-
polyester epoxy the article during operation. The heating temperature of the
dehyde
material during polymerization and the gel-formation time of
Strength, MPa:
the polyester resin were regulated by varying the content of
in tension 65 70 58
the hardening catalyst in the composition.
in bending 140 140 65
Pre-accelerated resins with low styrene emission were
Density, g/cm3 1.58 1.62 1.64
used to fabricate the fiberglass modules of water slides; this
Linear shrinkage, % 0.35 0.25 0.21 made it possible to reduce the emission of styrene in the
Specific impact tough- work zone and improve labor conditions.
ness, kJ/m2 52 48 24

FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR FIBERGLASS

nents and their ratios and control of the process resulting in
the conversion of diverse components into a single structure
of the composite material make it possible to obtain articles
with prescribed characteristics.
RAW MATERIAL COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE,
AND PROPERTIES OF FIBERGLASS FOR
WATER-SLIDE MODULES
Owing to their low cost and high mechanical properties
fiberglass materials, which possess a two-phase structure and
are comprised of a continuous polymer phase and a glass-fi-
ber filler, are the materials commonly used for the fabrication
of water-slide modules.
Different reinforcing materials for the fabrication of
polymer composites are produced on the basis of glass fibers
[7 – 10]. They are distinguished from one another not only
by structure (braids, fibers, filaments, ribbons, mats, differ-
ently woven fabrics) but also by the chemical composition of
the glass, which makes it possible to pick the type of rein-
forcing materials and construct glass reinforced plastic tak-
ing account of the production technology and the require-
ments imposed on an article by the design, purpose, and op-
erating conditions.
As a rule, low-viscosity oligomer resins, possessing good
wettability with respect to glass fibers and high cohesion
strength after polymerization and solidification, are used as
the binder in glass-fiber reinforced plastic. Epoxy, polyester,
and phenol formaldehyde resins are most widely used for
such purposes [11].
Some comparative properties of composites based on
different polymers and 33 wt % content of 50 mm long
chopped fibers are presented in Table 1.
Unsaturated polyester resins were used as the binder to
make the modules of water slides for pools and water parks
[12 – 14]. These resins possess high technological properties
and make it possible, as one can see from the data in Table 1,
to obtain strong structural materials with high specific im-
pact toughness.
WATER-SLIDE MODULES
We produced the channels of water slides on special fi-
berglass matrices which are mirror reflections of the future
water-slide modules.
Experience has shown that fiberglass matrices are easy to
make and are durable. In addition, the design and technology
were developed for producing the forming equipment, mak-
ing it possible to fabricate standard and special modules with
constant cross section of the water-slide channel. In design-
ing a water slide such modules provide complete freedom in
picking the slide length and configuration.
In contact formation of water-slide modules from polyes-
ter fiberglass a layer of so-called gel-coat, which after the
formation of the article became the working surface, was de-
posited on the working surface of module. This layer deter-
mines the aesthetic and friction properties of the future water
slide as well as the resistance of the working surface to cor-
rosive media. Since the gel-coat can have almost any color,
water slides can be made in 10 different colors, including
semi-transparent, multi-colored, and so on.
After preliminary but incomplete hardening of the
gel-coat on the surface of the matrix the glass fiber filled
oligomer composition was deposited on it.
The following methods of forming find the greatest prac-
tical use in the fabrication of large-size fiberglass articles:
– contact forming with resin-permeated fibrous canvas
placed on a mold;
– spraying fibrous-oligomer composition on the surface
of the mold.
Both technologies were tested. In contact molding of ar-
ticles made from RPCM by the hand lay-up method the rein-
forcing glass canvas was permeated with an oligomer com-
position and placed manually on a partially hardened gel-
coat coating.
Using a special assembly, a composition consisting of
the oligomer, hardening catalyst, and chopped glass fiber,
was sprayed by the spray-up method on the gel-coat. A tech-
nology based on the use of precise dosing equipment made it
possible to mechanize the process, increase labor producti-
Fiberglass Coating Technology for the Production of Water Attractions
s, MPa
sb
st
a, kJ/m2
Fiber content, wt.%
Fig. 2. Effect of the glass fiber content on the impact toughness a
and the rupture strength in tension st and in bending sb of fiberglass.
vity, and organize small series production of articles made
from fiberglass composites.
The glass fiber content has a decisive effect on the prop-
erties of fiberglass. Figure 2 shows the change in the charac-
teristics of material as a function of its content of glass fiber.
In the fabrication of water-slide modules the glass fiber con-
tent was equal to 40% by weight of the composite, since at
higher contents the increase created process difficulties.
Chopping glass braids into segments of prescribed length
(50 mm) and dosing and mixing of the components in a pre-
scribed ratio were conducted automatically using the 3WPG
setup (Glas Craft company) [15] in combination with a chop-
per — a high-output cutting machine (Graco Company) [16].
The operation of the assembly is based on the principle
of external mixing of catalyst with resin. At the exit from the
sprayer the mixed components pass into an air tunnel, where
aerosol spraying of the components occurs. Comminuted
glass roving, whose length can be regulated from 10 to
70 mm, was automatically introduced under air pressure into
the mixture of resin with catalyst. The setup was operated
from a compressor with working pressure 0.6 – 0.8 MPa and
air flow rate 600 – 800 L/min.
An important feature of this assembly is that the mixing
of the oligomer (resin) with the hardening catalyst and glass
fiber in the air flow occurs outside the spray gun, which
makes it possible to spray continuously without worrying
about the oligomer transforming into polymer inside the pro-
cess equipment. In the fabrication of articles by spraying
onto molds with vertical walls the rheological properties of
the resin, specifically, the presence of thixotropy in it, are
very important.
We formed channels with prescribed wall thickness
(8.0 ± 0.5 mm for the water-slide modules) by depositing the
composition in layers with temperature control of the lami-
nate and cooling of each layer prior to deposition of the next
layer. This eliminated overheating of the material owing to
the high exothermicity of the process, which can result in
277
significant shrinkage phenomena, distortion of the channel,
and even cracking of the surface of the matrix.
The deposited layers were carefully compacted with roll-
ers in order to eliminate the porosity of the material and other
defects.
The deposition (on the matrix) and hardening of the glass
filled oligomer composition were conducted in layers at tem-
perature 18 – 22°C. A thickness gauge was used to check the
thickness of each layer and a TM-8810 thickness gauge with
a microprocessor was used to make the final check of the
thickness of the ready article after the resin hardened.
In a regime with steady deposition of the composition on
the matrix and experienced operators servicing the spring ap-
paratus the thickness of the material is a derivative of the
spraying time.
After the resin has hardened a colored polymer coating
(top-coat) with a prescribed color was deposited on the outer
(non-working) surface of the module. This coating protected
the main material of the module from external disturbances.
The gel-coat and top-coat were deposited by spraying, which
increases the quality of the coatings. Industry produces
gel-coats and top-coats with different colors and uses: for
manual deposition with a brush (hand) and spraying.
The fiberglass module was removed from the matrix and
processed after the top-coat hardened.
Articles were removed from the matrix with the aid of
compressed air, which was delivered into the gap between
the article and the matrix. Screw pushers were provided in
the matrices in order to remove large and complex articles.
The final processing of the fiberglass modules for water
slides consisted in edging them along the perimeter, remov-
ing from the module the dust accumulated during edging,
and adding a colored top-coat on the end surfaces after edg-
ing. A pneumatic tool with a diamond edging wheel was used
to edge the fiberglass modules.
During assembly of the water-slide the modules were
connected into a single structure, which was placed on a spe-
cially prepared metal support structure. They were designed
taking account of the extant static and dynamic loads as well
as the topography of the location for open water parks or ar-
chitectural designs for enclosed areas.
The fiberglass modules were connected with one another
along their flanges with self-gluing liners made of a neo-
prene-based porous rubber, which sealed the channel of the
water slide.
CONCLUSIONS
The properties of reinforced polymer composite materi-
als based on different types of polymer binders and glass fi-
ber fillers were studied. A recipe and technology for produc-
ing fiberglass modules for water slides, based on the use of
high-precision dosing sprayers (Glas Craft Company) in
combination with a high-output cutting machine (Graco
Company), were developed.
278
This technology makes it possible to mechanize the pro-
cess, increase labor productivity, and organize small serial
production of water slides from fiberglass. The design and
fabrication were developed for the forming equipment, mak-
ing it possible to fabricate standard and special modules with
a constant cross section of the channel of the water slide. The
use of software made it possible to design from these mod-
ules slides of any length, height, and geometry.
Our investigations have shown the technical soundness
and economic expediency of using a spray technology for
producing from fiberglass based on glass roving and polyes-
ter resins large size modules for water slides and other attrac-
tions for pools and water parks.
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