Speaking of basalt fiber production technology, I have to talk about Paul Dhe from France. He was the first person to have the idea of extruding fibers from basalt. He applied for a U.S. patent in 1923. Around 1960, the United States and the former Soviet Union both began to study the use of basalt, especially in military hardware such as rockets. In the northwestern United States, a large number of basalt formations are concentrated. Washington State University R.V.Subramanian conducted research on the chemical composition of basalt, extrusion conditions and the physical and chemical properties of basalt fibers. Owens Corning (OC) and several other glass companies have carried out some independent research projects and obtained some US patents. Around 1970, the American Glass Company abandoned the research of basalt fiber, set its strategic focus on its core products, and developed many better glass fibers including Owens Corning’s S-2 glass fiber.
At the same time, the research work in Eastern Europe continues. Since the 1950s, independent institutions engaged in this area of research in Moscow, Prague and other regions were nationalized by the former Soviet Ministry of Defense and concentrated in the former Soviet Union near Kiev in Ukraine. Research institutes and factories. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the research results of the Soviet Union were declassified and began to be used in civilian products.
Today, most of the research, production and market application of basalt fiber are based on the research results of the former Soviet Union. Looking at the current development situation of domestic basalt fiber, there are about three types of basalt continuous fiber production technology: one is the electric combined unit furnace represented by Sichuan Aerospace Tuoxin, the other is the all-electric melting unit furnace represented by Zhejiang Shijin Company, and the other is the electric combined unit furnace represented by Sichuan Aerospace Tuoxin. The kind is Zhengzhou Dengdian Group’s basalt stone fiber as the representative all-electric melting tank kiln.
Comparing the technical and economic efficiency of several different domestic production processes, the current all-electric furnace has high production efficiency, high control accuracy, low energy consumption, environmental protection, and no combustion gas emissions. Whether it is glass fiber or basalt fiber production technology, the country is unanimously encouraging the development of all-electric furnaces to reduce air emissions.
In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission for the first time clearly included the basalt fiber pool kiln drawing technology in the “National Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalog (2019)” to encourage development, which pointed out the direction for the development of China’s basalt fiber industry and guided the production enterprises to gradually shift from unit kilns to large pool kilns. , Marching towards large-scale production.
According to reports, Russia’s Kamenny Vek company’s slug technology has developed to the 1200-hole slug unit furnace drawing technology; and the current domestic manufacturers still dominate the 200 and 400-hole drawing slug unit furnace technology. In the past two years, several domestic companies have been Continuous attempts have been made in the research of 1200-hole, 1600-hole, and 2400-hole slats, and good results have been achieved, and have entered the trial stage, laying a good foundation for the large-scale production of large tank kilns and large slats in China in the future.
Basalt continuous fiber (CBF) is a high-tech, high-performance fiber. It has the characteristics of high technical content, meticulous professional division of labor, and a wide range of professional fields. At present, the production process technology is still in the initial stage of development, and now it is basically dominated by single kilns. Compared with the glass fiber industry, the CBF industry has low productivity, high comprehensive energy consumption, high production costs, and insufficient market competitiveness. After nearly 40 years of development, the current large-scale tank kilns of 10,000 tons and 100,000 tons have been developed. It is very mature. Only like the development model of glass fiber, basalt fiber can gradually move towards large-scale kiln production in order to continuously reduce production costs and improve product quality.
Over the years, many domestic production companies and scientific research institutes have invested a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources in the research of basalt fiber production technology. After years of technical exploration and practice, the production technology of single furnace drawing has been mature. Application, but insufficient investment in the research of tank kiln technology, small steps, and mostly ended in failure.
Research on tank kiln technology: kiln equipment is one of the key equipment for the production of basalt continuous fiber. Whether the kiln structure is reasonable, whether the temperature distribution is reasonable, whether the refractory material can withstand the erosion of basalt solution, the liquid level control parameters and the furnace temperature Key technical issues such as control are all before us and need to be resolved.
Large-scale tank kilns are necessary for large-scale production. Fortunately, Dengdian Group has taken the lead in making major breakthroughs in the research and development of all-electric melting tank kiln technology. According to people familiar with the industry, the company now has The large-scale all-electric melting tank kiln with a production capacity of 1,200 tons has been in operation since 2018. This is a major breakthrough in the drawing technology of basalt fiber all-electric melting tank kiln, which is of great reference and promotion significance for the development of the entire basalt fiber industry.
Large-scale slat technology research: Large-scale kilns should have matching large slats. The slat technology research involves changes in material, the layout of the slats, temperature distribution, and the design of the slats structure size. This is not only necessary Professional talents need to try boldly in practice. The production technology of large slip plate is one of the main means to reduce production cost and improve product quality.
At present, the number of holes in the basalt continuous fiber slats at home and abroad is mainly 200 holes and 400 holes. The production method of multiple sluices and large slats will increase the single-machine capacity by multiples. The research direction of large slats will follow the development idea of glass fiber slats, from 800 holes, 1200 holes, 1600 holes, 2400 holes, etc. to the direction of more slat holes. The research and research of this technology will help the production cost. The reduction of basalt fiber also contributes to the improvement of product quality, which is also the inevitable direction of future development. It is helpful to improve the quality of basalt fiber direct untwisted roving, and accelerate the application of fiberglass and composite materials.
Research on basalt raw materials: raw materials are the foundation of production enterprises. In the past two years, due to the impact of national environmental protection policies, many basalt mines in China have not been able to normally mine. Raw materials have never been the focus of production enterprises in the past. It has become a bottleneck in the development of the industry, and has also forced manufacturers and research institutes to start studying the homogenization of basalt raw materials.
The technical feature of the basalt fiber production process is that it follows the production process of the former Soviet Union and uses a single basalt ore as the raw material. The production process is demanding on the composition of the ore. The current industry development trend is to use a single or several different pure natural basalt minerals to homogenize the production, which is in line with the basalt industry’s so-called “zero emission” characteristics. Several domestic production companies have been researching and trying.
Post time: Apr-29-2021
