Environmental Benefits of Using Fiberglass Honeycomb Panels

Are you thinking of using lightweight and long-lasting fiberglass honeycomb panels for your next building project? Because they combine strength with remarkable lightness, these panels have become some of the best alternatives to traditional building materials like metal and wood.

Here at KC Panels, we manufacture honeycomb fiberglass panels using reliable adhesives from reputable suppliers, delivering versatile materials that you can use as they are or as backing to laminate a stone panel.

Being durable and lightweight, honeycomb fiberglass panels last longer and don’t require excessive maintenance. Moreover, they can withstand extreme weather and high temperatures without failing. This is due to fiberglass’s low coefficient of thermal expansion, adding to its durability, which can translate to less frequent replacements. These features make them more environmentally friendly than traditional materials.

If you’re worried about your project’s environmental impact, KC Panels has your back. We offer fiberglass honeycomb panels to improve your building’s sustainability, energy efficiency, and longevity. Read on to understand how honeycomb fiberglass can make your project more eco-friendly.

It’s the composition

Here at KC Panels, we offer two options when it comes to fiberglass honeycomb panels:

• Double fiberglass honeycomb panels feature two layers of fiberglass sheets on either side of a lightweight aluminum honeycomb core.
• Fiberglass and aluminum honeycomb panels combine a single layer of fiberglass with an aluminum sheet, sandwiching the aluminum honeycomb core.

Fiberglass has the same thermal conductivity as natural stone, making it ideal for exterior cladding. When used as backing for stone veneer panels, fiberglass keeps up with rapid temperature changes and moves with the stone in a similar range. This prevents excessive bowing and damage.

Fiberglass honeycomb panels are better for the environment because they don’t burn or rot like wood and emit greenhouse gasses. They rarely require replacing, reducing your carbon footprint associated with maintenance efforts and waste. Additionally, they are often sourced through ecologically sound quarrying to minimize their impact on habitats and communities.

An energy-efficient and sustainable solution

Fiberglass is a known sustainable, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly material. Its manufacturing process involves very low embodied energy. Plus, it typically doesn’t require extra treatments to reinforce it. With fiberglass honeycomb panels, you can reduce the weight and bulk of materials on exterior cladding. And because they are lighter than traditional materials, they help reduce transportation costs.

Effective insulation

Do you want to reduce energy consumption to save on heating or cooling bills? Fiberglass honeycomb panels can help with that. Fiberglass is an ENERGY STAR material that can contribute to Green Globe and LEED ratings. It’s often used in insulation applications because it effectively insulates against cold and heat.

A long-lasting product

At KC Panels, we use a modified epoxy adhesive to bond all layers of honeycomb fiberglass panels and create one whole panel. That makes them different from the older versions in the market.

Previously, manufacturers applied resin on fiberglass sheets to create the necessary layer. However, this created an issue with the resin becoming the panel’s weak point. During flatwise tensile strength tests, it fails at just 1.2 MPa. This is not ideal for any structure, especially when the panels are used for exterior cladding.

Our new-generation honeycomb fiberglass panels use stronger modified epoxy that improves their tensile strength to 2.5 MPa. That makes our products two times stronger and longer-lasting than panels bonded with resin.

How strong are honeycomb fiberglass panels?

Knowing the strength of fiberglass honeycomb panels can help you understand their potential to last long and how sustainable they can be. In terms of mechanical properties, our panels have a tensile strength of 2.5 MPa if we use fiberglass on both sides. On the other hand, this tensile strength is slightly reduced to 2.0 Mpa when we use aluminum on one side and only one fiberglass on the other. That said, both configurations have a compressive strength of 2 Mpa. This indicates good load-bearing for most applications.

Additionally, our honeycomb fiberglass panels have 1.5 Mpa of shear strength. This ensures sufficient resistance to lateral forces, ensuring a stable and durable material that can withstand the most demanding applications.

Drum peeling strength is another consideration, especially on panels with one aluminum side. Our panels have a drum peeling strength of 60 N.mm/mm, ensuring reliable resistance to delamination forces. This specification does not apply to double-sided fiberglass panels. Both configurations show 60 Mpa of flexural strength, proving their ability to resist deformation and bending under different loads.

Less waste

Our fiberglass honeycomb panels are undoubtedly durable and will last for many decades. This means they produce less waste that ends up in landfills. Plus, they maintain their high-strength properties and corrosion resistance, even when exposed to extreme temperature changes for years.

At KC Panels, we supply honeycomb fiberglass panels according to your unique specifications. This helps prevent further waste and ensures each panel is ready to use for your application. We customize dimensions up to 6,000mm long and 2,000mm wide. Additionally, we can make the panels 10mm to 500mm thick, offering flexibility for various applications.

When it comes to surface finishing, we make sure the fiberglass honeycomb panels are completed according to your application. The fiberglass side is rough to enhance bonding with the stone veneer. Meanwhile, the aluminum side has an anti-corrosion coating for durability.

A versatile material

Using honeycomb fiberglass panels eliminates the need for traditional materials, resulting in savings and reduced waste. Here are some of the ways our customers use our fiberglass honeycomb panels:

• Transportation:

  The lightweight nature of fiberglass honeycomb helps reduce fuel consumption in commercial vehicles, buses, and high-speed trains. Moreover, a durable and long-lasting material helps minimize the maintenance costs of these vehicles.

• Marine:

  Honeycomb fiberglass panels are invaluable in marine applications because of their natural resistance to moisture and corrosion. They won’t succumb to the harsh conditions at sea, making them ideal for offshore platforms, yachts, and commercial ships.

• Construction:

  Besides external cladding, fiberglass honeycomb can be used as partition walls, ceilings, or sub-floors. Its low weight and outstanding stiffness reduce construction times and labor costs during installation.

• Labs and clean rooms: 

  Fiberglass honeycomb panels are easy to disinfect and clean, thanks to their non-porous and clean surfaces. That makes them ideal for specialized environments, such as laboratories and clean rooms. Plus, their acoustic and thermal insulation contributes to the controlled conditions required in these spaces.

Choose environmentally friendly materials for your project

At KC Panels, we optimize our honeycomb fiberglass panels to ensure unparalleled performance in your application. We guarantee finely calibrated specifications and a robust structure to meet your unique specifications. Contact us today to find out how our panels can benefit your project. We can also give you an estimate to help you plan your budget.