Case Study on Improving Bushing Reliability in Glass Fiber Manufacturing

Bushing reliability plays an important role in the glass fiber-forming process. In this study, a single three-factorial design was used to investigate the effects of three forming factors: forming throughput, glass viscosity, and forming temperature. Results show that the bushing life distribution could be approximated by a Weibull distribution. There was a negative correlation for the bushing life under forming at different throughputs, viscosities, and temperatures. There were negative correlations between bushing lives at different forming temperatures for yarn production, but in the case of fiber-reinforced plastic production, the correlation between the bushing life and the forming temperature is not significant. We recommend that the processing parameters be set to the following low levels: forming throughput 32 kg/h, glass viscosity 1192 poise, and forming temperature 1193 °C. The results of this study can be used to improve the forming process and save costs.