Fiberglass Radome is a structure that protects the antenna system from the external environment. It has good electromagnetic wave penetration characteristics in electrical performance, and can withstand external harsh environments in mechanical performance. Outdoor antennas are usually placed in the open air, and are directly affected by storms, ice, snow, sand, dust, and solar radiation in the natural world, resulting in reduced antenna accuracy, shortened service life and poor working reliability.
Fiberglass Radome Applications:
- Aviation Radome
It is generally a shell structure. Depending on the specific situation, a vertical incidence radome or a streamlined large incidence radome can be used. In order to meet the requirements of aerodynamics, the radome must be made into a streamlined structure. However, when the antenna is scanned in the radome, the incident angle changes greatly, making it difficult to obtain the best electrical performance of the radome. If it is not streamlined, it is usually designed as a radome with an incident angle of less than 30°, and its shape can be cylindrical, spherical or parabolic. Although the aerodynamic performance of this vertical incidence radome is worse, the electrical performance is better. - Ground radome
Usually truncated spherical (about three-quarters of the ball), can be divided into two types of inflatable cover and rigid cover. Rigid radome is divided into shell structure radome and space skeleton radome.
Inflatable radome
The spherical membrane is fixed on an air-tight platform with a pressure plate around the cutout, and the circumference is tightened with a rope or fixed by other methods, and the inside is inflated. It has the advantages of thin and uniform cover wall, good electrical performance, and suitable for wide-band operation; the cover is soft and easy to fold, light in weight, small in size, and convenient to transport, store, and install. The disadvantage is that it needs to continuously inflate into the cover to maintain the shape and necessary rigidity of the cover. If the inflator fails, the cover will collapse and the antenna will be damaged. The United States has developed the largest inflatable cover with a diameter of 64.05 meters (210 feet) and is used as a radar antenna for the “Telstar” (Telstar). - Shell structure radome
The cover wall is usually made into a curved shell, and the structural load is supported by the shell. Among them, the uniform single-wall shell structure is limited due to the consideration of operating wavelength and size; the foam plastic shell structure is due to the low dielectric constant and loss tangent of the material, and the thicker cover wall is allowed to be used electrically. Structural load requirements. The connection between the foam blocks can be glued to form a uniform overall shell, which has good electrical performance and is suitable for high-frequency and wide-band work; the sandwich shell structure is usually A-type sandwich structure. It consists of two symmetrical high-strength-density skins and a low-density core. Its advantage is that its strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness-to-weight ratio are large, and it is suitable for large ground radomes with a certain wavelength. But the disadvantage is that the working frequency band is narrow, the manufacturing is complicated, and the cost is high. When the A-type interlayer cannot meet the requirements, a multi-layer interlayer structure composed of odd-numbered layers can be used. The 44.4-meter-diameter sandwich radome successfully developed by China in 1972 adopted the A-type sandwich shell structure. - Space skeleton radome
It is composed of a metal (or dielectric) spherical grid skeleton and a dielectric sheet (or film) covering it. The structural load is mainly borne by the grid skeleton. The design principle of the grid skeleton is to minimize the electrical shielding of the bar section while ensuring the mechanical performance. The strength and rigidity of metal are greater than that of dielectric materials, so metal skeletons are often used. Its advantages are that it is suitable for high-frequency and wide-band operation, easy to manufacture, relatively inexpensive, and suitable for large-scale ground antennas. The world’s largest metal space skeleton radome was built in 1964, with a diameter of 45.75 meters (150 feet), and is used for Haystack radar antennas in the United States.
Fiberglass Radome Features:
- Strength – Stronger than steel shapes, pound-for-pound in lengthwise direction.
- Corrosion Resistance – Resists most acids, caustics and salts.
- Lightweight – Weighs 75% less than structural steel.
- Low Maintenance – does not require constant de-rusting and repainting.
Size in stock (can be customized if not in the list):
All our current Fiberglass Radome are customer-specific molds. You can send us your ideas or drawings for improvement.
FRP vs Traditional Materials
Traditional building materials have their place. But for harsh, corrosive environments, FRP is a smart choice. Here’s how FRP compares to several traditional options
Factory Tour
At LEADFRP, we believe that fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) products are the choice of the future. Compared with traditional materials such as steel and aluminum, it has excellent performance and service life.
LEADFRP provides a series of high-strength fiber reinforced plastic products (FRP), which are designed and manufactured to provide long-lasting performance in highly corrosive environments, while having the advantages of light weight and high dielectric strength compared with traditional structural materials.
Since 2001, we have provided our customers with innovative, high-quality composite designs and materials through two strategic offices/factories located in the United States and China. It is here that we provide turnkey solutions to take your product from concept to design, to mold calculation, manufacturing, and finally to installation. [More about manufacturing]
We own 5 acres (20000 square metre) standard plants, 80 sets of advanced various manufacturing and machining equipments, 120 sets of assembly pultrusion production line, including one 1000 kN tensile strength machine and one 200 kN bending and torsion machine. We also can proceed basic property test of different kinds of composite insulation materials according to GB, ASTM, etc standards. Our products passed TUV Rheinland type test and UL type test.
LEADFRP strictly carry out standardized, scientific and normalized management mode. We fully implement ISO9001 quality management system, ERP managing system and 6S management mode through the whole service cycle of contract signing, production, process inspection, finished product ex-factory, after-sales service, which outstandingly reflect ‘Quality is the Life of Enterprise’. We have ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO45001 identification.
Technology in LEADFRP:
Production Process:
Pultrusion, all Moulding type, Laminating, Casting Forming.
Feature Classification:
Food Grade, Flame Retardant, Conductive Type, anti-Corrosion, High Strength, Specific Surface.
Resin Types:
Epoxy, Polyester, Phenolic, Polyurethane, Acrylic, Polystyrene, Polypropylene, Polyethylene.
Fiber Type:
Carbon, E-Glass, ECR Glass, AR-Glass,Tow, Veil mats, Woven fabrics, Chopped strand mat.
Surface Avaliabe:
Glassfiber, Polyester, Special Type
Colors Avaliabe:
We recommend referring to RAL color standard
Size Avaliabe:
Customize Supported
Research and Development
With a 10,000 sqft R&D laboratory and full-time R&D staff, LEADFRP can perform most testing procedures, material qualifications and quality experiments. These resources provide LEADFRP, its customers and suppliers technical expertise that is unmatched in the composite industry. The following is a summary of LEADFRP’s technical capabilities.
- Decades of experience in mechanical testing of common to exotic reinforcements.
- Deflection testing a composite crossarm.
- Composites analysis capabilities including Finite Element and Classical Laminated Plate Theory using in-house generated lamina data.
- Rapid Prototyping: In-house 3D printing capabilities offer R&D lab the ability to quickly create test fixtures and concept prototypes.
- Dedicated laboratory pultrusion machine managed and operated by a full time Research and Development Engineer and dedicated machine operator.
- Competency in conducting Design of Experiments to reduce testing time.
- Material testing machines capable of loads as high as 220,000 lbs-force.
- Full Scale Testing Machine: 3-Point Bend Test Machine capable of applying loads up to 30,000 lbs-force on 22-foot clear spans.
- Environmental Chamber for elevated temperature coupon testing.
- Weatherometer and material conditioning capabilities including programmable UV, temperature and condensation.
- Laboratory machine shop to prepare ASTM test coupons and custom test specimens.
- Custom design and testing capabilities, including custom fixture design and setup, custom laminate designs and access to our in-house machine shop to fabricate test fixtures.
- Dedicated environmentally controlled Mechanical Test Lab. Dedicated environmentally controlled Electrical Test Lab.
- Rheology/DMA to determine glass transition temperature and other viscoelastic properties of resin mixes as well as solid composites.
- Viscosity and cure (210°F gel) testing capabilities for neat resins and resin mixes.
- Color matching capabilities for resins, finished pultrusions and topcoats.