Evaluation of the Mechanical Performance and Commercial Opportunities of Thick Basalt Composite Structures

New basalt fibre composite applications could be commercialised due to the potential low cost of this material together with its good mechanical performance, in particular at high temperature. In this work the possibility to replace glass fibre was investigated where mechanical tests were carried out on E-glass and basalt fibre reinforced plastic laminates. The basalt laminates tested were manufactured using press forming and the E-glass laminates were manufactured using a VaRTM method. The results obtained on the two fibre laminates were compared showing improved performance of the basalt material in terms of tensile modulus. Furthermore, compression after impact strength (CAI) was obtained for the 15mm thick basalt laminates. These properties suggest possible applications of basalt fibres in fields where glass composites are nowadays largely dominant.