Shipping Containers and Refrigeration Units For The Military

Customer History

Our customer manufactures shipping containers and refrigeration units for the military. This application relies on fiberglass for its superior strength-to-weight ratio and low thermal conductivity characteristics. The customer originated their fiberglass program with another pultrusion supplier, but the supplier had problems meeting the product specifications and quality requirements.

Instead, our customer brought the challenge to the Advanced Fiber Products (AFP) engineers. They hoped for a quick solution to their problems because they had government contracts which had to be fulfilled on time. We were asked specifically to improve the bond between the fiberglass and steel components of the shipping containers. The fiberglass needed to be abraded to make the adhesive work effectively.

While the customer originally used sandpaper to roughen the surface, this caused problems with consistency. AFP’s engineers recommended a raw material, applied during the pultrusion process, which created a uniform surface texture and allowed the fiberglass and steel to properly fuse. The product passed testing and has been in steady use since 2004. This customer now purchases eight different shapes from us and also recognized AFP with their vendor of the year award in 2011 for “outstanding overall performance.”

Customer Statement

“We purchase pultrusions, which are an integral part of our bonding process for our insulated containers. We have a great relationship and have enjoyed working with them. They have excellent employees to work with who always go above and beyond to satisfy our requirements. They are very responsive to our needs and will do whatever it takes to get the job done. We have had instances where we need material sent overnight, and they always make this happen for us.”