Examination of wear resistance of polymer-basalt composites

Abstract

Olivine basalt, as a natural material, has excellent physical and mechanical properties such as hardness, compressive strength, wear resistance, color and gloss. On the other hand it is difficult for processing, because of its high values of mechanical properties. Retention of physical and mechanical properties of basalt and its formation is only possible by mixing basalt powder with polymers, which would enable the composite material that can be formed by the casting process into complex shapes. The mechanical properties of the obtained composites and production technologies are, to a great extent, unknown in both, local and foreign literature. Researches conducted and presented in this paper show an overview of tribological behavior of the basaltic composite material, and some technological parameters of the production process. Based on the obtained results, it can be determine the best ratio of components in the composite. These data are important for the development of new composite materials based on basalt, which will have significant application in the future.