I keep hearing people talk about fiberglass and I’ve heard of the name but I have no clue what it is. And now I keep seeing so many people freaking out bcs there is fiberglass in their mattress and I’m so confused. I’ve tried searching it up but I still don’t really understand what it is. Can someone explain pls?
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In this case, you can think of it as a cotton candy type material made of super fine glass shards. Fine enough that they can become airborne like particles of dust. Due to said glass shards it gives you tiny cuts on your skin if you touch it which can cause a rash/blisters, and can cause lung damage if you inhale it. It will also irritate your eyes if they are exposed to it. Inside of a mattress, fiberglass is used as a flame retardant. It’s there to slow the process of the mattress catching fire if it were to start burning, as it melts and forms a sort of “barrier” to protect the flammable insides of the mattress. This layer is going to usually be located in the inner mattress cover, which you are never supposed to remove as the fiberglass will get everywhere. It is extremely difficult to remove from carpet/clothes/furniture and can even enter your HVAC system.
Fiberglass has been used for insulation, and in the manufacturing of many products such as sinks, hot tubs, convertible car roofs, etc. The United States banned fiberglass insulation in 1978, and now most insulation is made from cellulose or mineral wool.
It is glass in very fine form, usually spun, as it is for insulation, but it also can resemble wooden boards that are made from what basically appears to be thousands of splinters pressed together.
When one handles fiberglass without gloves, invisible pieces of glass can be shed from the material and can penetrate the skin, leading to itching, pain, and sometimes a rash.
Additionally, the tiny glass particles can cause serious lung problems when inhaled. This is why asbestos is so dangerous. It is a natural substance that fiberglass, which is manufactured, resembles. Both can cause lung disease in similar ways, and while asbestos is a proven carcinogen, fiberglass is a suspected carcinogen.
Sheets woven from glass fibers used as a composite building material and as insulation. Think OG carbon fiber.
The danger comes from breathing in the dust after cutting and sanding. Not good for lungs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiberglass#:~:text=Fiberglass%20(American%20English)%20or%20fibreglass,or%20woven%20into%20glass%20cloth.
I used to work at a fiberglass plant in SE Ontario. We had two plants. One made the glass fibers and the other made the resin. I worked at the latter plant.
Fiberglass insulation as used in houses is just glass fibers.
But what we call fiberglass as used in boats, RVs and cars like the Corvette is actually a 2 part composite consisting of woven or mat fiberglass cloth and polyester resin.
Various versions of this composite material are also found in mattresses, and other things too.
The glass fibers are definitely not good to breathe in, but this would be more the case if you were bumping around in an attic or sanding down a boat. I can’t really see how a mattress would be bad for you.
The resin is full of all kinds of very unpleasant things. It was the scariest job I’ve ever had. The main ingredient, styrene, is a carcinogen. I used a gas mask almost all the time because the union steward told me his headaches stopped once he wore his more often.
Obviously once cured the acute toxicity would fall off a cliff but I’d think breathing in the cured dust wouldn’t be good either. Like someone working in boat building or a body shop. Gelcoats and Bondo were two of the products we made at the resin plant.
Just as it sounds, fiberglass is made up of little tiny glass fibers/threads. These can flake off and are easy to cause slivers in yours skin. They can also be breathed in – and as you can imagine, tiny glass threads in your lungs is not great. This is MOSTLY a problem for the workers at factories where these materials are being handled in large quantities before they are fully processed in the final product. But you should be careful when rummaging around in your attic/walls where there might be fiberglass insulation.
It is very unlikely that an ordinary citizen will ever have issues from fiberglass exposure. Only an issue when you work with it on a daily basis for years.
This, is why: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/sdsssj/my_arm_after_grinding_fiberglass_all_day/
Imagine how your lungs might look like in that environment 😱
Completely insufficient PPE.
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