The use of basalt fiber products in construction

 

Alkali-resistant basalt fiber Basfiber®

Alkali-resistant sizings KV-13, KV-42 and KV-41 for Basfiber® were developed specifically for construction applications. These sizings provide excellent alkali resistance and good compatibility with concrete and different resins used for production of rebar and other composite products in construction industry.

Besides high alkali resistance these products have much higher mechanical properties than E-glass and much lower price compared to all other alkali resistant fibers.

All the above mentioned advantages make these product an excellent and affordable alternative to alkali-resistant fibers which are currently used on the market.

 

Applications

Kamenny Vek offers a wide range of products for building and road construction:

• Wet or dry chopped strand for premix technology
• Special roving for Spray-Up technology
• High strength roving for production of rebar and pultruded profiles
• Basalt mats and fabrics for concrete reinforcement and buildings thermo insulation
• Reinforcing mesh for roads and buildings construction
• Scrims

 

Basfiber® advantages

Nowadays composite materials successfully replace steel in construction industry. But even among reinforcing fibers Basfiber® is the product of choice for this application due to its unique combination of properties:

 

In comparison to steel:

• High strength to weight ratio: Basalt fiber is 3 times lighter and up to 2.5 times stronger in tensile strength than steel.
• Chemical and corrosion resistance: Basalt fiber doesn’t rust and is resistant to the action of salt ions, chemicals, and the alkalinity inherent in concrete.
• Low thermal conductivity: Basalt fiber has extremely low coefficient of heat conductivity compared to steel. This advantage helps to reduce heat transfer from building interiors to exteriors and significantly improves energy efficiency
• Zero electrical and magnetic conduction: Basalt fiber has much higher electrical resistance compared to steel and doesn’t interfere in the operation of sensitive electronic devices

In comparison to E-glass:

• Tensile strength and modulus: Basfiber® shows 25% higher tensile strength and 15% higher tensile modulus compared to E-glass.
• Chemical resistance: Basalt fiber shows much better chemical resistance compared to E-glass.
• Heat and fire resistance: Melting point of basalt fiber is 150°C higher compared to E-glass.

Basalt fiber reinforced rebar

Reinforced concrete is a traditional building material for construction. By far steel is the most common reinforcement in this application, but basalt fiber is more and more used for that purpose.

Basalt fiber reinforced rebar significantly improve the durability of civil engineering structures, especially under corrosion environment.

The technology:

Basalt rebar is produced by combining pultrusion and winding processes from high quality basalt fibers along with polyester, vinylester or epoxy resin.

Rebar properties	Basfiber®	E-glass	Beton steel
Tensile strength for 10 mm rebar, MPa	до 1700	до 1300	550
Tensile modulus, GPa	45-55	40-46	200
Thermal conductivity, W/mK	<0,5	<0,5	60
Density, g/cm³	2,2	2,3	7,85

 

Pultruded load-bearing profiles for bridges and buildings

Pultruded load-bearing profiles are widely used for construction of bridges and buildings.

Kamenny Vek produces high strength basalt roving specially designed for pultrusion. This product has high tex, low catenary and alkali resistant sizing.

Typical Basfiber® products for rebar and pultruded profiles production:

Assembled roving with reduced catenary or direct roving, 17 to 22 µm, 2000 to 4800 tex, internal unwinding, alkali resistant KV-42 (epoxy compatible) or KV-41 (vinylester and polyester compatible) sizing.

 

External reinforcement in housing and infrastructure

The usage of unidirectional, biaxial and triaxial basalt fabrics as external reinforcement is a cost-effective and reliable way to increase load-bearing capacity and provide earthquake protection in various applications for the construction industry.

 

Reinforcing mesh

Basalt reinforcing meshes are designed for reinforcing road and highway overlays to prolong the pavement life span by reducing the effects of reflective cracking caused by traffic loading, age hardening and temperature cycling.

Typical paving temperatures will not cause any loss of strength or distortion which may occur with synthetic material.

Basfiber® significantly outperforms synthetic materials by its ability to withstand low temperatures that is extremely important for roads and highways in the north regions.

Cement or concrete reinforced with basalt chopped strand

Use of chopped basalt strand in this application is an effective way to increase chemical, impact and cracking resistance of cement panels or concrete.

Basfiber® concrete grade is produced with a special sizing agent to provide good compatibility with different types of concretes, high alkali resistance and easy mixing.

Basalt fiber reinforced concrete can extend the life cycle of bridges, highways, railways, housing, sea structures, tunnels etc.

The technologies:

• Spray-up and shotcrete technologies
• Premix technology

Typical Basfiber® products for this application

For spray-up and shotcrete: Continuous gun-roving 13 to 17 µm, KV-15 sizing.

For premix technology: chopped strand with monofilament diameter 17 to 19 µm, length 6 to 50 mm, wet chopped strand with KV-05/1 (hydrophilic) sizing or dry chopped strand with KV-13 (hydrophobic) alkali-resistant sizing.