Basalt Fabric

What Basalt Is

Basically, basalt is an igneous rock with a melting point of about 1400 °C, which can be found all over the world with differing chemical compositions. It is one of the most common volcanic rocks on earth, and for most of its history its uses were heavy and structural: initially basalt stones were mainly used for construction, industrial and highway engineering, and basalt is also cast for moulded parts. The textile chapter of the story begins when the rock is melted and drawn into continuous filament - basalt fiber - which can then be spun, woven and finished like other technical fibers. The fiber side of the subject has its own Basalt Fiber directory and guide, alongside the Wool Fiber Directory at the natural end of the fiber shelf.

Because the raw material is a single, widely available rock rather than a batch of mixed ingredients, basalt fiber's composition is set by the quarry, and producers select stone with the chemistry their filament requires. That differing chemistry from deposit to deposit is worth remembering when comparing suppliers: two basalt fabrics can differ in performance because the rocks they came from differed first.

How Basalt Fiber Compares

Basalt fiber has many similar characteristics of glass fiber, and the comparison is the fastest way to place it. Basalt fibres demonstrate a set of properties which compare favourably to those of E-Glass fibers - the standard glass reinforcement - across the working range engineers usually ask about: tensile behaviour, chemical resistance and, above all, temperature resistance. A basalt fabric keeps working at temperatures that would degrade ordinary glass, and it does so without the health and handling concerns that follow some older refractory materials.

The economic point follows from the thermal one. In high temperature applications, it is no longer needed to always spend the higher price of the traditional high temperature fibres, e.g. silica, ceramic, or carbon fibers. Basalt occupies the middle ground: priced and handled more like glass fiber, performing partway toward the premium refractory fibers. That is why basalt fabrics show up in fire barriers, exhaust and insulation wraps, friction materials and composite reinforcement where heat is part of the job description - industrial textiles rather than apparel, listed here because the Fabric Directory covers the full textile range, with Fabric Search and the Textile Machinery directory as the neighbouring trade tools.

Using This Directory

The listings below are the complete set Apparel Search carries for basalt fabric: Sudaglass in the United States and You Chang Company in China, each linked to its Fabric Mills by Name profile. No listing has been added or removed. When you contact a supplier, ask which fabric constructions it offers - woven roving, chopped strand mat, unidirectional or multiaxial - what areal weights it runs, and what temperature rating its test data supports, since basalt's value is entirely in verified performance. The wider trade around this page runs through Clothing Industry Factories, Yarn Factories, Fabric Retail, Fabric Wholesalers, the Fibers Directory and Fabric Definitions, plus Fashion Industry News, Clothing Industry Employment and Conversion Charts. Thank you for using the Apparel Search Fabric Mill Directory.

Basalt Fabric Mills Listed in This Directory