Basalt fibres are commercialized as several different products. In addition to standard products, which can be customized in agreement to the client's requests, each manufacturer continuously develops new and increasingly peculiar products. As a consequence, basalt can be used with different purposes in practically every industrial sector.



Wool

As a "wool", basalt fibres can be used as they are for heat and sound insulation, or as a filtering system; most commonly, it is used in form of boards or sheet, as a substitute of asbestos, again for heat and sound insulation in civil and industrial buildings, in the mechanic industry (for instance for the insulation of engine rooms), and in the manufacture of personal protection devices and safety equipment for household electrical appliances.



Roving

A roving is a long and narrow bundle of fibre commercialized as a continuous coil. This product can be used in different applications, all deriving from the textile industry. The coils can be directly used, as suggested by several manufacturer, for the manufacturing of composite materials through pultrusion or filament winding: this two innovative techniques do not require a particular resin, thanks to the surface treatment (sizing) that the basalt fibre undergoes during its production, increasing its flowingness and wettability. The yarn is provided with almost any diameter and weight (tex), according to the most different needs.



Chopped strand

This particular product, obtained by chopping basalt fibres, can be used for several applications: mixed with phenolic resins, it can substitute friction resistant materials in mechanic components (brakes, clutches, etc.); with a special sizing it can be used as a reinforce of concretes, even at high percentages, with the double scope of lightening the material and increasing its mechanical performances; finally, it is largely employed by basalt manufacturer themselves for the production of mats and felts, then used for thermal and acoustic insulation in buildings as a substitute of old asbestos materials.



Fabrics

Fabrics, obtained by weaving roving or strands, are used mainly in the production of composite materials with a large range of possible properties; the compatibility, as previously said, is assured with all possible resins. The fabric properties are defined by textile industry standards. Multiaxial fabrics are particularly interesting, since they have polytrophic structural resistance; several different layers can be moreover combined or stitched, in the same way of the common fibreglass (fabric+mat, fabric+chopped, fabric+nonwoven, …). So, we can find a large series of different basalt fabrics, which differ from each other for the used thread and for the waving technique used. As a consequence, composite materials for the most wide range of applications can be produced, from wind turbine blades to boat hulls.



Nonwoven

Nonwoven basalt fabric is cheaper than the woven one, and still have excellent properties; it is produced from one or more layers of chopped strand, giving the possibility to the entrapped air to go out during composite lay up production. It has good mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance as well as, thermal, electrical and acoustic insulation capacity. It is commonly used in shipyards.



Other commercial forms

Rods for reinforcement of concrete in substitution of steel (rods), grids for the reinforcement of pavement in substitution of materials such as fiberglass or polypropylene (reinforcing meshes and geogrid), ropes of basalt wool covered with glass wool for thermal insulation, lightweight insulation panels with a honeycomb structure and many many others.