New raw materials

We would like to inform that starting from November 1st, at our plant in Kimry, where we produce thick rovings, we began using raw materials from new quarry.

The only slight difference between the new raw material and the old one is that new one has slightly increased content of Silicon and Aluminum oxides in expense of slightly lower content of Iron oxides. This makes the chemical composition of our basalt fiber even closer to that of S2 glass. The increased content of Silicon and Aluminum oxides, as we can see from the results of multiple preliminary tests, provides an increase in the mechanical characteristics of the fiber. Once we have enough statistics on mechanical properties, we will do the appropriate analysis and increase the minimum tenacity values in our TDSs.

The lower content of iron oxides does not affect the properties at all, but only affects the color of the fiber. While the old fiber has a greenish-bronze tint, the new fiber has a slightly grayer tint. For projects where color is important, clients usually use fine rovings and twisted yarns, which will continue to be produced from old raw materials at our plant in Dubna.

The main purpose of the quarry replacement was to ensure higher security of supply and more reliable quality control of raw materials. The old quarry was located not in our country and was not the property of our company. The new quarry is located in Russia and Kamenny Vek is its 100% owner. Despite the fact that new raw materials practically do not differ from old ones, before deciding to put them into the furnace on a regular basis, our engineers and chemists carried out a huge number of laboratory and industrial tests in order to check the workability and all properties of the fiber. All the results confirmed the almost complete identity of the new raw material and the old one, as well as the superiority of fiber produced from new raw material over the old one in terms of mechanical properties.