BASALT FIBER - BASIC (PRIMARY) CONCEPTS

Abstract

Although basalt fiber is a green fiber with high performance, it has not been widely used yet. One of the major concerns is that the defect generation and elimination mechanism of basalt fiber in the process of filament drawing is unclear. It is urgent to clarify the mechanism during fiber manufacturing and develop basalt fibers with high mechanical strength. Meanwhile, the current fibrous filters seem not to be robust enough to cope with the challenges such as high temperatures.Given this, we aim to develop high-performance basalt fibers and evaluate their filtering efficiency in natural gas purification, which can also improve the added value of local basalt rock. By implementation of the project, we plan to fabricate high-performance fibrous filters based on basalt ore resources in Xinjiang. Using local basalt ore as raw material, through the study of the melting and spinning of basalt ore, the generation and repairing mechanism of the fiber defect is expected to be revealed. Further studies will be carried out on the performance of basalt fiber in the gas-solid separation process and the mechanism of interaction between solid particles. Also, simulations such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) will be introduced to predict the gas filtering behaviors through fibrous filters. Thus, it would lay a theoretical foundation for the low value-added products to high-end filters. The hypothesis of the project includes the optimization of the basalt ore melting and spinning process, analysis of the defect cause and elimination mechanism, development of high-performance basalt fiber, and the application in natural gas purification. Nature is continually providing varied resources for creating textile materials for various applications. Although many textile fibers in nature are provided with the fibrous kind itself it additionally offers raw materials that may be changed and formed into a filament in a way similar to the melt and solution spinning of other textile fibers. Basalt is an igneous rock, which is solidified volcanic lava. In recent years, basalt received attention as a replacement for asbestos fibers. Basalt has emerged as a contender in the fiber reinforcement of composites. Basalt fiber (BF) is capable to withstand very high temperatures and can be used in high-performance applications. This paper is a review of state of art of knowledge of BF, the production methods, properties, and its applications.