Study of high tensile strength of natural continuous basalt fibers

Abstract

In this article, the tensile strength, melting properties, and fiber-forming properties of natural continuous basalt fibers, such as andesite, andesite basalt, and tholeiitic basalt, are investigated as a function of their chemical and mineral compositions. The results indicate that when the basalt glass melts are homogeneous, the tensile strength is mainly determined by the chemical composition as well as the mineral components, which will affect the melting properties and fiber-forming properties. By optimizing the melting properties and fiber-forming properties, a high filament tensile strength of 3390 MPa was achieved for the basalt andesite with regions of tholeiitic basalt with an SiO2 weight percentage of 49%–57%.