Performance
Price
Sales & Service
Fabrication
Custom Pultrusions
Technical Product Questions
A. Please see EXTREN® vs. Steel comparison flyer or the DURADEK® vs. Steel comparison flyer.
A. Please see EXTREN® vs. Aluminum comparison flyer or the DURADEK® vs. Aluminum comparison flyer.
A. Please see EXTREN® vs. Structural Timber comparison flyer.
A. Temperatures must be taken into consideration during the structural
design process. Refer to the Strongwell
Design Manual for a chart
showing changes in mechanical properties as the temperatures
reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. Cold temperatures are
generally of little concern unless below -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
A. The service life of any particular product depends on the application
in which it is installed. Generally speaking, Strongwell
customers have reported products that are still in use after
25 years of active service.
A. Strongwell’s FRP materials are normally less than the cost of
stainless steel.
A. Strongwell’s FRP materials are generally more expensive than
steel when comparing material costs. However, when factoring
in installation, handling, transportation and other associated
expenses, the total installed cost of FRP is more competitive
to carbon steel.
A. Strongwell’s FRP materials are usually priced competitively
with aluminum and the total installed cost generally makes FRP
a more price competitive choice than aluminum.
A. Strongwell’s FRP materials cannot compete with wood on price
alone. Customers considering using FRP in place of wood should
evaluate the strength, rot resistance and overall performance
requirements for the application and choose the best material
accordingly.
A. Strongwell has stocking distributors throughout the United States
and representatives in many locations around the world. If you
are a U.S.-based customer, please contact Strongwell’s Customer
Service Department at (276) 645-8000 to find the closest stocking
distributor in your area.
If you are a Europe-based customer, please
contact Strongwell’s European Business Director, Richard Irvine,
at rirvine@strongwell.com for the
closest representative in your area. For customers in all other locations, please
contact Strongwell’s International Business Group at jwalters@strongwell.com for the
closest representative in your area.
A. View a map which identifies
the Strongwell Regional Sales Manager for your area.
A. Lead times vary; stocked items typically have a lead time of
48 hours or less. If the item is not stocked, please call Customer Service to inquire about its lead time.
A. Yes. We have engineers registered in many states who can stamp
drawings we provide. Strongwell also has the option of retaining
engineering services in any state in which our in-house engineers
are not registered.
A. Yes. All Strongwell divisions are ISO 9001:2000 quality certified. View Strongwell's ISO Certificates for each division: Bristol, Highlands, and Chatfield.
A. Strongwell has three pultrusion facilities to service your composite
profile needs. Plants are located in Bristol, VA, Chatfield, MN
and Washington County, VA. These facilities are all ISO 9001:2000
certified and operate a number of machines to offer virtually unlimited
capacity to meet our customers’ needs.
Strongwell is equipped with its own tool and die capabilities
as well as pultrusion machine design/build abilities. Strongwell
also can add more machines based on business needs and decisions.
A. Strongwell’s pultruded FRP products can be cut, drilled, and
otherwise fabricated using standard carpenter’s tools. Carbide
blades and drill bits are recommended to facilitate the task and
extend the life of the blade or bit. Refer to the EXTREN® Fabrication
and Repair Manual or the Grating
Field Fabrication Guide for more information on fabricating Strongwell materials.
A. Yes, Strongwell has in-house engineers, estimators, drafters and fabrication
services available. The Strongwell
Design Manual is available
to assist outside engineers in the design/built process.
A. Begin by completing the Custom
Pultrusion Checklist on Strongwell’s
web site. The Custom Pultrusion
Checklist is essential in determining the various requirements
of the custom profile you seek based on the end use application
the profile will be used in. Strongwell can also help you fill
out the checklist by contacting either the Bristol Division Technical
Sales Department at (276) 645-8107 or the Chatfield Division Technical
Sales Department at (507) 867-1217.
A. EXTREN® is a proprietary product line of common structural shapes
made in specific reinforcement design and resin types. EXTREN® shapes have known testing and property information and are already
tooled to make specific “stocked” and “non-stocked” items.
Custom shapes are profiles Strongwell has helped to
design in which materials such as reinforcements and resins have
been altered to achieve certain properties or attributes of the
finished profile in a particular application or use. Pultrusions
can be customized in one or more ways such as shape, resin matrix,
reinforcements and composite design. Customized shapes may have
similar properties to EXTREN® or they may have completely different
properties depending on the final profile design for reinforcements,
resin type and shape.
A. Yes. Strongwell has a Corrosion Resistance
Guide to help you with these types of applications. For customized profiles
or specific end-use applications, please contact Strongwell for
assistance in the profile design. Various types of resins and surfacing
veils can be considered to enhance corrosion protection.
Ultraviolet Radiation (UV) will attack FRP composite
profiles. Consideration of the end-use application at the start
of the design review process will help to determine the amount
of UV protection required in the customized profile. Design elements
used to combat UV degradation are resin selection, UV inhibitors
added to the resin, synthetic surfacing veils, color and coating
materials such as UV stabilized polyurethane based paints and coatings.
A. Yes. Strongwell has a variety of standard color offerings from
which to choose. Other colors can be developed with our pigment
suppliers and sampled to the customer for approval. Strongwell
designs to “ball park” color, using the Pantone Color Formula
Guide, customer submitted samples showing desired color, and
other sources. When considering color, it is important to note
that various types of resins, reinforcements and synthetic veils
may affect the final profile color.
Color matching can be done but it takes a significant
lead-time and usually results in several attempts to match a color.
Cost of color matches are dependant on the color and the estimated
amount of engineering and machine time required to achieve the
desired or approved color.
A. The surface quality of a composite profile can be altered in
many ways. Strongwell can alter the surface of the profile by
resin type, synthetic veil choice, reinforcement type, profile
coating, etc. During the design review process, we will help
you to determine the type of surface quality you need for your
specific application.
A. Visual specifications are difficult to determine based on a
number of possible conditions that could exist with a pultruded
composite profile. Strongwell has developed an EXTREN®/custom profile
visual specification sheet for documenting the various conditions.
In the absence of specific customer visual specifications,
Strongwell quotes and produces to our own visual standard 01.0036.004.
This specification is available to Strongwell customers to determine
the condition, definition and acceptance level of specific possible
defects in the end pultruded composite profile.
A. Strongwell is your one-stop shop for customized profiles and
pultrusion tooling. After reviewing the checklist requirements
and determining the composite design and specifications, Strongwell
will quote the profile and the tooling required to make the profile.
Strongwell’s assistance in the design, order placement and implementation
of pultrusion tooling makes the ramp-up process less difficult
for the customer.
A. Strongwell is the world’s leading pultruder of fiberglass profiles.
We have a number of registered professional structural, composite,
civil and mechanical engineers on staff to guide you through the
design process. We also have auto-CAD capabilities and technical
sales professionals to assist you in your design and application.
A. Yes, see the Strongwell
Design Manual.
The Design Manual is formatted similarly to the AISI steel manual
with section properties, allowable loads for flexural members,
allowable compressive loads for columns, and design equations to
help you understand the capabilities of Strongwell’s products.
Registered structural engineers are also available to help answer
questions.
A. Refer to the load tables found in Strongwell’s Fiberglass
Grating Brochure to determine the product
that best meets the loading requirements for your application.
A. Test data
on Strongwell’s EXTREN® deck is available in our Bridge
Components brochure. Several unique factors must
be considered in design of an FRP bridge deck and we suggest
contacting Strongwell’s structural engineers early in the design
stage.
A. See the Strongwell
Design Manual, pages
3-4, 3-5, 6-16, and 9-2 through 9-9.
A. DURAGRID® pultruded
fiberglass grating and SAFPLATE® gritted
fiberglass plate can meet ADA requirements. Refer to the load tables
for DURAGRID® and SAFPLATE® and
compare to local code requirements.
A. Yes, see the Strongwell
Design Manual for
more information.
A. Yes, DURAGRID® HD
pultruded grating or COMPOSOLITE® structural
building panels may be suitable for your application. Please refer
to the Fiberglass Grating Brochure,
the COMPOSOLITE® brochure, or the Strongwell
Design Manual for more information.
A. Strongwell recommends the use of EXTREN® 3”
x 3” x ¼” or 4” x 4” x ¼” square tubes. Please refer to the Strongwell
Design Manual for more information.
A. When used with an adhesive, the toggle makes the COMPOSOLITE® panel connections as strong as the shear strength of the joint.
Refer to Section 15 in the Strongwell
Design Manual for more information.
With regard to banding, a fiberglass channel measuring 3.42” x
1.3” x .125” can be used to cover and band open ends on COMPOSOLITE® panels.
A. Strongwell only publishes flexural information on sections that
are efficient in bending. An EXTREN® angle is neither efficient
nor recommended as a member in bending. A test program would
be required to determine performance.
A. Strongwell lists this information on page 3-3 of the Strongwell
Design Manual (Barcol Hardness
of 45). Abrasion is a complex subject with numerous variables. Generally,
FRP should perform as well or better than wood in normal sand or
grit paper type abrasion events.
Please refer to page 3-3 of the
Strongwell
Design Manual for more information.
A. Yes. Please refer to pages 19-8 and 19-9 of the Strongwell
Design Manual for more information.
A. An I beam of this span without lateral bracing limits stability.
Please refer to equations on page 8-4 of the Strongwell
Design Manual and to model beam end conditions on
page 8-6). Use proper C1 and Ky coefficients and calculate Fu.
