Strengths of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Fir Sawdust Panel

Abstract

Wood composite is weak under heavy loadings, which was improved by reinforcing basalt fibres. In this study, chopped basalt fibres with different lengths (5mm, 10mm, 15mm and 20mm) were mixed with fir sawdust at 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% weight fractions to produce basalt fiber reinforced fir sawdust panels. The reinforced panels showed improved strength values. A maximum bending strength value of 44.1 MPa was obtained when the mean length of chopped basalt fiber was 15mm and the weight fraction was 2.5%. The tensile strength reached a maximum value of 17.4MPa when the mean length of basalt fiber was 10mm and the weight fraction was 10%. Compared with the unreinforced fir sawdust panel group, the reinforced panel group increased bending strength 60.7% and had a 47.5% increase in tensile strength. These findings demonstrate that basalt fibre has very promising prospects for strength improving.