New Materials, High Performance, "Specialized, Special And New" Enterprises Use Stones To Make Clothes

Making clothes out of stone sounds like a fantasy, but now it is becoming a reality. A specialized and special new enterprise in Xiangyang, Hubei can turn hard volcanic basalt into soft silk thread and fabric, and make clothes with special purposes. How is this unique skill realized?

The golden brown shiny natural fiber in front of us is drawn from hard basalt. In the workshop, a large number of basalt was put into the blast furnace. At a high temperature of more than 1000 degrees Celsius, the rock is melted into liquid, and then pulled into filaments that are almost invisible to the naked eye through the shaft. This strand contains 400 500 micron monofilaments in total.

Wu Minyong, General Manager of Hubei Huierjie New Material Technology Co., Ltd.: This process is the most important part of the whole basalt fiber drawing, spinning and weaving. First of all, we should ensure the quality of wire drawing, that is, the evenness of the precursor.

Basalt fiber is a natural fireproof material, which can not only withstand the high temperature of nearly 1000 degrees Celsius, but also withstand the tensile force 4 times that of steel bars. It also has the characteristics of heat insulation, insulation and radiation prevention. Previously, it was mainly used as industrial mixture to increase building strength and toughness. However, there is almost no precedent in the industry when it is used as clothing fabric.

Wu Minyong, General Manager of Hubei Huierjie New Material Science and Technology Co., Ltd.: The stone fiber has a harder feel and some itching. There is no problem for it to be used as the fire and heat insulation of industrial equipment. However, as a garment, it must be treated with comfort and skin friendliness, which is a difficult problem in the industry, a neck sticking problem, and also a difficult problem in the world.

It is the unique skill of this enterprise to make basalt silk thread soft.

Wu Minyong, manager of Hubei Huierjie New Material Science and Technology Co., Ltd., said that each bundle of basalt fiber is wrapped with comfort fiber to make composite yarn, which has been successfully applied to fire suits and other textile and clothing fabrics.

Aramid is the mainstream fire clothing fabric on the market at present. Its heat resistance limit is 300 ℃, while basalt fiber's heat resistance limit can reach 1000 ℃, which can be used for a long time at 600 ℃. The number of times of bending resistance exceeds 10000, and the unit price is only 1/3 of that of Aramid.

Wu Minyong, General Manager of Hubei Huierjie New Material Technology Co., Ltd.: Basalt fiber also has the performance of low temperature resistance and radiation protection, and can be made into aerospace products for outer space.

This issue specializes in new and unique skills: transforming the "hardness" of basalt into the "softness" of fiber cloth. Between rigid and flexible transformation, the basalt fiber can be used as a "security guard" for ruthless fire scene and extreme environment.

(Source: CCTV Finance)