This sample is an introduction to basalt fiber composites. Basalt reinforcements are made from melting and extruding crushed basalt rock into filaments - the same way glass fiber is made. Though it isn't a common thing, use of basalt is growing because it has some very nice properties that fit in between plain ol' e-glass and carbon.
Here the basalt reinforcements are wet-laid with Proset LAM 135 epoxy into a panel - sandwiching Gurit M100 Corecell foam. All the fiber is at 0/90 to the panel edge. The basalt wets out nicely and seems to make a nice composite panel. It feels a bit stiffer than fiberglass but it is hard to tell. The color is nice, but the foam showing through is not ideal. For clear finish parts basalt could be a decent carbon alternative - with a more "subdued" appearance.
One of the often-suggested benefits of basalt is that it is a "natural" material and requires less refining then carbon or 'glass and can be recycled. Yes, if you grind up basalt composite you are left with resin mixed with chunks of basalt - which is just "rock." I am not sold on this, but I like the idea. Mixing something with large volumes of plastic resin isn't going to be super "green" unless more progress is made with resin recycling or the practical separation of fiber from resin. It's important to work on though - the composites industry has a lot of work to do on the sustainability front!
Check out explorecomposites.com for more information on practical composite construction. There will be a page for this laminate sample at some point, and it will get a link from here.
