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How It's made
The production of StoneRod fibre requires a dedicated manufacturing plant. The raw material is quarried from selected ore bodies. The basalt is crushed to a suitable size, and the rock is washed. It is then fed into the production process. No additional materials are added. The fibre is formed from pure basalt rock. The process consists of melting the rock at high temperatures, before being drawn through minute sizing dies.
The ore is fed through a weighing and conveying system, into the smelting furnace and the material is heated until it melts. It then passes into a conditioning section, where the material temperature is allowed to stabilise. This takes some time, as the process requires the molten rock to be at a constant, even heat, for good fibre production. The more constant the drawing temperature, the better and stronger the fibres become.
Once the correct temperatures are achieved, the molten lava is drawn though extremely fine sizing dies, where it is formed into filament threads. The fibres are passed through a sizing compound, which applies a thin coating of material to the outside of the tiny fibres. The sizing compound aids in smoothing any rough surfaces of the fibre, which prevents nicks, and improves the adhesion qualities of the material. The material is then passed through either, a spinning section, where twisted fibres are produced, or wound directly onto bobbins. Non-twisted continuous, mono-filament fibre, or twisted fibres are then wound into suitable lengths.
StoneRod fibre is a continuous filament material, and can be drawn into different thicknesses from 6 µm to 30 µm. Once the fibre has been produced, it can be used as a basis for a number of different products. The continuous filament is dried, before producing chopped fibre or twisted yarn.
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1. Raw material supply 2. Weighing 3. Conveyor 4. Batch hopper 5. Melting furnace 6. Conditioning furnace 7. Die bushings 8. Sizing applicator 9. Strand spinner 10. Winding oscillator 11. Winding mechanism. |
For assembled roving, the drying process will be before or after assembling, according to the application. StoneRod fibre is an eco-friendly product, in that it can be produced using less energy than competitive materials.
Although the smelting process requires longer heat conditioning, the total energy demand is reduced. Only the base material needs to be processed as no additional minerals or chemicals are added to the basic fibre. The material is fully recyclable, and does not adhere to, or clog incinerator internals, when materials, or components that contain the fibre, are incinerated upon reaching their end-of-life cycles.
 StoneRod basalt Fibre is produced from volcanic lava rock. |
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