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Chemical Composition and Mechanical Properties of Basalt and Glass Fibers: A Comparison
Tamás Deák and Tibor Czigány
Textile Research Journal 2009 79: 645
DOI: 10.1177/0040517508095597
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What is This?
In the last two decades, basalt fibers have come into consid- Basalt materials are classified according to their SiO2
eration as potential reinforcement of composite materials. content as alkaline basalts (up to 42 % SiO2), mildly acidic
Basalt is a common volcanic rock that can be found in most basalts (43 to 46 % SiO2) and acidic basalts (over 46 % SiO2).
countries around the globe and is directly suitable for fiber The color of basalt ranges from brown and gray to dull green
manufacturing. Its chemical structure is nearly related to depending on the chemical composition. Basalt fibers are
glass. The most important components of basalt are SiO2, more resistant to strong alkalis than glass fibers, but glass can
Al2O3, CaO, MgO, Fe2O3 and FeO [1–3]. The different better withstand strong acids. Basalt fibers can be used over a
oxides compose a large crosslinked molecule with primary wide range of temperature, from –200 °C to +600 °C [9–11].
bonds, therefore basalt and glass can be regarded as a spe- At higher temperatures structural changes occur. For con-
cial kind of polymer. Basalt rocks are molten approximately tinuous fiber manufacturing, basalt rocks must meet the fol-
between 1350 and 1700 °C [4–6]. When cooled rapidly, lowing requirements: SiO2 content above 46 % (acidic basalt)
basalt solidifies in a glassy amorphous phase. Slower cool- with constant composition, ability to melt without solid res-
ing results in a partially crystalline structure, an assembly of
minerals. Basalt fibers are good electric insulators, biologi-
cally inactive and ± environmentally friendly. The average 1
Corresponding author: Department of Polymer Engineering,
density of basalt is 2.6–2.7 g/cm3, while glass has a density of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111 Buda-
2.5–2.6 g/cm3 [7, 8].1 pest, Muegyetem rkp. 3, Hungary. e-mail: czigany@eik.bme.hu
Textile Research Journal Vol 79(7): 645–651 DOI: 10.1177/0040517508095597 www.trj.sagepub.com © 2009 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore
idue, appropriate melt viscosity for fiber formation and dium-platinum pot, lead to a spinneret made from the same
ability to solidify in a glassy phase without noticeable crys- material and spun gravitationally through holes in the spin-
tallization [12, 13]. neret bottom at 1350–1420 °C. The filament bundle is taken
Basalt fibers are produced in one step, directly from up downwards at about 2000–5000 m/min, prepared at 1.0
crushed basalt stone. Some melt blowing technologies (e.g. to 1.2 meters below the spinneret, then spooled. In glass
Junkers method) are suitable for producing cheap, short fiber manufacturing, predominantly overhead gas burners
basalt fibers, but such fibers have relatively poor and une- are used for heating the melt. In the case of basalt, it raises
ven mechanical properties. In melt blowing technologies, difficulties because due to its dark color it absorbs infrared
the molten basalt rock is poured onto an ensemble of rotat- energy near to the surface, thus homogeneous heating is
ing steel cylinders. As the melt is blown off from the cylin- rather challenging. This can be overcome by holding the
ders by air jets, fibers are formed in the air blast and solidify melt in the reservoir for a longer time or by electric heating
quickly in a glassy amorphous phase. The characteristics of using electrodes immersed in the bath. Basalt stone is mol-
Junkers technology cause the formation of the so-called ten in two steps: in the initial furnace it is fused, then con-
fiber heads. The fiber heads are spherical objects with the veyed to the secondary heating zone feeding the extrusion
diameter of 10 to 100 times the fiber diameter. While some of bushings, equipped with a precise temperature control sys-
them break from the fibers, the others – mostly the smaller tem [11, 15].
ones – remain on the fiber ends (Figure 1) [14]. Continuous The idea of using basalt fibers as reinforcement of
basalt fibers are made by spinneret method, similarly to glass composite materials first emerged in the former Soviet
fibers (Figure 2). The basalt broken stone is molten in a rho- Union in an aerospace research program. Today most of
the continuous basalt fibers is manufactured in Russia and
Ukraine [11].
The aim of this study was to evaluate the mechanical
properties and chemical composition of different basalt
and glass fibers.
The mechanical properties of the fibers were investi- up from four essential compounds: SiO2, Al2O3, CaO and
gated by tensile tests. The elementary fibers were stuck to B2O3. Although boron was not evaluated in our experi-
paper windows and their diameter was measured on a Pro- ments, it is known from literature that B2O3 can be found
jectina 4014/BK-2 projection microscope fitted to an image in E-glass, but it is absent from basalt rock [4, 16]. All other
processing system and equipped with a CCD camera, with oxides were below 1 m% in E-glass. Some compounds
400x magnification. The diameter of fibers was measured at which scarcely occurred in E-glass fibers, could be found in
three different points to determine the variations in diame- basalt in a large quantity, e.g. Fe2O3, K2O, MgO, Na2O and
ter. Subsequently the specimens were clamped to the test- TiO2. These compounds determined the differences
ing machine, the paper window was cut and the fiber was between basalt and glass fibers. The higher heat resistance
tensioned. The tests were executed according to the EN and dark color of basalt fiber were mostly due to its Fe con-
ISO 5079 : 1999 standard, with 25 mm gauge length on a tent. The results of optical, density measurements and ten-
Zwick Z002 testing machine, at ambient temperature. The sile tests can be seen in Table 3.
test speed was v = 2 mm/min. 100 specimens of each mate- The tensile strength of short basalt fibers was consider-
rial were tested and the mean values and standard devia- ably lower compared to other invesigated fibers. The elas-
tions were calculated. The tensile tests of short basalt fibers tic modulus of short basalt fibers was also relatively small
have been presented in our previous work [16]. The tensile and had a large deviation. The moduli of other fibers con-
strength was defined as the tensile stress at break, while the curred, although CB3 continuous basalt fibers and glass
elastic modulus was the gradient of the stress-strain curves fibers had slightly smaller elastic modulus. The diameter of
between 0.05 and 0.25 % nominal strain. short basalt fibers was small and varied in a broad range.
The chemical composition of the fibers was determined The tested E-glass fiber had relatively large diameter,
by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectros- while the continuous basalt fibers had a diameter between
copy (ICP-OES) method, using a Labtest Plasmalab ICP 12 and 15 µm uniformly. The relation between the average
spectrometer. The amount of oxides was calculated from breaking strain values (εfs) was similar to that of the tensile
the elementary composition. The entire Fe content was strength. This was evident, because the modulus of glass
considered as Fe2O3. and continuous basalt fibers was in the same order of mag-
nitude. Figure 3 shows the tensile test diagrams of fibers.
All tested fibers had a rigid behavior, without plastic defor-
mation. The modulus and failure method of continuous
Results and Discussion basalt fibers and glass fiber were quite similar, while short
basalt fibers were considerably less stiff.
The chemical composition of investigated fibers can be The relationship between geometrical and mechanical
seen in Table 2. SiO2 was a basic component of both basalt properties of all three tested continuous basalt fibers and
and E-glass. Its proportion was relatively uniform, between glass fiber had a similar nature, thus only CB1 is presented
50 and 56 mass percentage (m%) in continuous basalt fib- on diagrams in Figures 4–7. On the other hand, short
ers. Short basalt fibers had a lower SiO2 content, while in basalt fibers had notably different properties. Tensile
glass fibers it was over 58 m%. E-glass had less diverse strength of short basalt fibers showed a large hyperbolic
chemical composition than basalt fibers. It was mainly built dependence on diameter below 9 µm. Over this value, the
tensile strength has a larger statistical deviation than elas- ulus, but produces a decrease in tensile strength while the
tic modulus. The presence of volume defects, such as elastic modulus remains substantially constant.
cracks and cavities and surface defects (microcracks, According to literature data, the mechanical behavior
indents, swellings), has an irrelevant effect on elastic mod- of basalt, glass and ceramic fibers is strongly dependent
on their Al2O3 content. This recognition has resulted in strength due to the diameter dependence of strength. If
attempts to enhance the strength of these fibers by adding glass fiber was excepted from the comparison, unequivocal
additional Al2O3. SiO2 is the fundamental component of relationship could be observed. The correlation coefficient
glass and basalt fibers [17, 18]. This led to the hypothesis that was R = 0.99 in this case.
a relationship can be found between the amount of above- Elastic modulus showed a similar characteristic to ten-
mentioned components and mechanical properties of inves- sile strength (Figure 8(b)). A difference between this and
tigated fibers. Our measurements did not reveal a correla- the character of tensile strength shown on Figure 8(a) was
tion between the average tensile strength or elastic modulus that measured points of elastic modulus showed no monot-
and Al2O3 or SiO2 content, but the effect of these two com- onic growth in the function of ceramic-like material con-
ponents together (Al2O3 + SiO2) was demonstrable. As tent, on the other hand short basalt fibers clearly had a
these compounds are classified as ceramics, we denomi- smaller average modulus combined with lower ceramic con-
nated them ceramic-like materials. Figure 8 shows the rela- tent. The correlation coefficient was R = 0.77 with glass fib-
tionship between the ceramic-like material content and the ers and R = 0.80 excluding glass fibers.
tensile strength of investigated fibers. The correlation coef-
ficient here was R = 0.93. The tensile strength of basalt
fibers was growing in the function of ceramic content, at
the same time glass fibers had weaker tensile strength than Conclusions
continuous basalt fibers, although the ceramic content of
glass was not lower. However, it must be taken into consid- The chemical, geometrical and mechanical properties of
eration that the glass fibers had quite different chemical basalt and glass fibers have been investigated by micros-
composition and had the largest average diameter among copy, tensile tests and plasma atomic emission spectros-
investigated fibers, which may have caused smaller tensile copy analysis. The basalt fibers represented two different
production technologies: short basalt fibers made by melt 4. Militky, J., Kovacic, V., and Rubnerová, J., Influence of Ther-
blowing (Junkers method) and continuous basalt fibers mal Treatment on Tensile Failure of Basalt Fibers, Eng. Fract.
made by spinneret method. The main components of glass Mech. 69, 1025–1033 (2002).
were Al2O3, SiO2, CaO and B2O3, while basalts lacked 5. Botev, M., Betchev, A., and Bikiaris, D., Mechanical Proper-
ties and Viscoelastic Behavior of Basalt Fiber Reinforced
boron and contained considerable amounts of TiO2, K2O,
Polypropylene, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 74, 523–531 (1999).
MgO, Na2O and Fe2O3. The geometrical and mechanical 6. Vas, L. M., and Czigány, T., Strength Modeling of Two-compo-
properties of continuous basalt and glass fibers were simi- nent Hybrid Fiber Composites in Case of Simultaneous Fiber
lar to each other in terms of diameter, tensile strength and Failures, J. Compos. Mater. 40, 1735–1762 (2006).
modulus. Short basalt fibers had considerably lower aver- 7. Keszei, S., Matkó, S., and Bertalan, G., Progress in Interface
age diameter and mechanical performance with relatively Modifications: from Compatibilization to Adaptive and Smart
high standard deviation. Short basalt fibers showed a Interphases, Eur. Polym. J. 41, 697–705 (2005).
steep growth in modulus and tensile strength below 9 µm 8. Czigány, T., Special Manufacturing and Characteristics of
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dependence of properties on diameter, due to their higher cal Properties and Acoustic Emission Study, Compos. Sci.
Technol. 66, 3210–3220 (2006).
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9. Morozov, N. N., Bakunov, V. S., and Morozov, E. N., Materi-
Al2O3 content (denominated as ceramic-like materials) of als Based on Basalt from the European North of Russia, Glass
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Acknowledgement Dual Basalt and SiC Fibres by Means of the Fragmentation
and Acoustic Emission Techniques, Compos. Sci. Technol. 59,
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