Aluminum vs. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)

Whether you’re looking to replace an existing component rail system, access hatch, ladder, or other vertical access safety product, or if you’re installing one on a new construction project, material selection is key to the value you’ll receive from your investment. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “To aluminum or not to aluminum, that is the question.” At Thompson Fabricating, we always recommend aluminum because it has three key advantages over fiber-reinforced plastic or fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP), commonly known as fiberglass.

Durability. Over the long term, aluminum holds up much better than plastics. When exposed to ultraviolet light, such as that from the sun, as well as to wind, rain, snow, chemical media, and mechanical stress, plastics’ performance and appearance can degrade rapidly. In contrast, aluminum maintains its structural integrity and original look for longer periods of time under the most adverse conditions.

If your application involves liquids ranging from 120°F to nearly 600°F, FRP’s long-term temperature resistance is poor, which can force you to replace products or systems more frequently than you would if you used aluminum.

Long-Term Cost Savings. Although aluminum vertical access and safety systems may be slightly more expensive to install than their FRP counterparts, they require virtually no maintenance, such as painting or polishing, because they do a better job of resisting environmental elements. In fact, many of our customers tell us that beyond performing annual safety inspections to ensure continued structural integrity, it’s “set it and forget it” with the systems we manufacture and install.

Low Environmental Impact. If you care about the health of our planet, aluminum is your material. That’s because it can be recycled infinitely, easily, and inexpensively into your new access & safety products. What’s more, the aluminum systems you replace can be recycled as other products rather than sent to landfill as is the case with most FRP.

Specifically, when FRP is incinerated through thermal oxidation to create heat for applications such as steam to power turbines that generate electricity, it creates an ash byproduct that must be sent to a landfill if it is not used as a filler in cement or concrete, particle board, or other building materials. The fact is that the vast majority of ash created by power generation, whether from FRP, coal, or other materials ends up in landfills.

Although FRP pyrolysis, the process of chemically decomposing or transforming the material by heating it to a very high temperature in an oxygen-depleted environment, can yield reusable gas and oil, it is an expensive process that is not widely used because of high startup costs.

Looking ahead five to ten years, FRP recycling could gain momentum as the demand for wind turbine blades increases, but that’s a matter for consideration on another day.

Conclusion

It can be hard to sort through the high volume of information about whether aluminum or FRP is a better material for vertical access & safety products applications. At Thompson Fabricating, we’ve been in business for 70 years because we always help customers like you do what’s in your best interest even if it means less revenue for us in the short term.

To find out if aluminum is best for your specific application…