Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Basalt fiber
Summary
Basalt fibers are produced from basalt rocks by melting them and converting the melt into fibers.
Basalts are rocks of igneous origin. The main energy consumption for the preparation of basalt raw materials to produce of fibers is made in natural conditions.
Basalt continuous, staple and super-thin fibers are produced and used.
Basalt continuous fibers (BCF) are used for the production of reinforcing materials and composite products, fabrics and non-woven materials. Basalt staple fibers - for the production of thermal insulation materials.
Basalt superthin fibers (BSTF) - for the production of high quality heat and sound insulating and fireproof materials.
The technology of production of basalt continuous fiber (BCF) is a one-stage process: melting, homogenization of basalt and extraction of fibers. Basalt is heated only once. Further processing of BCF into materials is carried out using "cold technologies" with low energy costs.
Basalt fiber is made from a single material, crushed basalt, from a carefully chosen quarry source. Basalt of high acidity (over 46% silica content) and low iron content is considered desirable for fiber production. Unlike with other composites, such as glass fiber, essentially no materials are added during its production. The basalt is simply washed and then melted.
The manufacture of basalt fiber requires the melting of the crushed and washed basalt rock at about . The molten rock is then extruded through small nozzles to produce continuous filaments of basalt fiber.
The basalt fibers typically have a filament diameter of between 10 and 20 μm which is far enough above the respiratory limit of 5 μm to make basalt fiber a suitable replacement for asbestos. They also have a high elastic modulus, resulting in high specific strength—three times that of steel. Thin fiber is usually used for textile applications mainly for production of woven fabric. Thicker fiber is used in filament winding, for example, for production of compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders or pipes.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related publications (108)
Related people (23)
Related courses (7)
PENS-308: Argamassa armada
The UE Argamassa Armada will develop prototypes of structural elements in textile reinforced concrete (TRC) for the context of social housing in Nicaragua, based on the knowledge of the TRC Prototype
MSE-430: Life cycle engineering of polymers
Students understand what life cycle engineering is and apply this methodology to adapt and improve the durability of polymer-based products. They understand how to recycle these materials and are able
MSE-440: Composites technology
The latest developments in processing and the novel generations of organic composites are discussed. Nanocomposites, adaptive composites and biocomposites are presented. Product development, cost anal