In the past 10 years, interest has grown in the production of basalt-filled plastics based on thermosetting and thermoplastic binders reinforced with basalt threads, fabrics, and fibres. The raw material for the basalt fibres consists of basalt- rock whose deposits are concentrated in Siberia, the Far East, Kareliya, and countries of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). The Saratov region of Russia has no explored basalt deposits but has fairly rich sources of opoka (gaize), white clay, etc., which are used for the manufacture of ceramic composite materials. In the Department of Chemical Engineering of Saratov State Technical University, an investigation was made of the effectiveness of using regional rock- opoka from the Vol'skii field - as filler in polymer composites. Opoka is characterised by a high SiO2 content - 76% (basalt contains 55% SiO2) - and by the presence in its composition of metal oxides (Table 1).
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