Stepping into a new era of industrial material upgrading, innovative composite materials with performance beyond traditional limits are reshaping manufacturing landscapes across high-end industries. Jiangsu Junhua Special Polymer Materials Co., Ltd. (Junhua Stock) launches PEEKFRTP®BF-UD continuous basalt fiber/PEEK unidirectional prepreg. Boasting outstanding comprehensive strengths, it serves as a reliable solution for demanding application scenarios.
1. Material Innovation: Integration of Basalt Rock and Advanced Polymer
PEEKFRTP®BF-UD is a high-performance thermoplastic unidirectional prepreg, manufactured by compounding continuous basalt fiber (BF) and polyether ether ketone (PEEK).
- Continuous Basalt Fiber: Produced from natural basalt ore, it features superior flame retardancy, wide temperature resistance and natural electrical insulation. It delivers higher mechanical strength than ordinary glass fiber, lower moisture absorption and better acid & alkali corrosion resistance compared with carbon fiber.
- PEEK: A premium specialty engineering plastic with remarkable impact resistance, creep resistance and biocompatibility.
Combining merits of both raw materials, this prepreg outperforms conventional carbon fiber and thermosetting prepreg in lightweight design, mechanical stability and long-term service reliability.
2. Advanced Manufacturing: Precision Slurry Process
Junhua Stock adopts sophisticated slurry process. Ultra-fine PEEK powder is formulated into stable water-based slurry. Basalt fiber tows are evenly spread via yarn spreading rollers, followed by impregnation, drying, pre-melting and plate shaping.
Compared with traditional hot melt method, slurry process achieves full monofilament infiltration and coating with low-viscosity slurry, reducing porosity and enhancing interfacial bonding. Equipped with online concentration detector, tension regulation system and thickness feedback controller, the production line guarantees stable fiber content and consistent batch quality.
3. Superior Performance: All-round Comprehensive Competitiveness
Integrating dual advantages of basalt fiber and PEEK resin, the prepreg possesses excellent mechanical, thermal, chemical and processing properties.
- High Temperature Resistance: Maintains stable structure and mechanical properties under prolonged high-temperature service, meeting strict requirements of thermal zone components.
- Chemical Corrosion Resistance: Resists acid, alkali, salt spray and organic solvents, suitable for harsh corrosive environments such as chemical and marine industries.
- Electrical Insulation: High volume resistivity and low dielectric loss, ideal for wave-transparent structures and insulating parts.
- Fatigue and Impact Resistance: Firm interlayer bonding and high damage tolerance, resistant to delamination under dynamic and cyclic stress.
- Thermoplastic Processability: Weldable, thermoformable and recyclable, facilitating secondary processing and waste recycling with strong environmental adaptability.
| Item | Test Standard | Unit | Typical Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resin Properties | |||
| Density | ISO 1183 | g/cm³ | 1.3 |
| Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) | ISO 11357.2 | ℃ | 143 |
| Melting Temperature (Tm) | ISO 11357.3 | ℃ | 343 |
| Processing Temperature (Tp) | – | ℃ | 370-400 |
| Physical Properties | |||
| Fiber Areal Density | HB7736.3-2004 | g/m² | 350 |
| Prepreg Areal Density | HB7736.2-2004 | g/m² | 450 |
| Resin Content | HB7736.5-2004 | % | 34±3 |
| Ply Thickness | – | mm | 0.30±0.02 |
| Laminate Density | ASTM D792 | g/cm³ | 2.10 |
| Mechanical Properties | |||
| 0° Tensile Strength | ASTM D3039 | MPa | 1250 |
| 0° Tensile Modulus | ASTM D3039 | GPa | 50 |
| 0° Flexural Strength | ASTM D7264 | MPa | 1600 |
| 0° Flexural Modulus | ASTM D7264 | GPa | 50 |
| 0° Compressive Strength | ASTM D6641 | MPa | 900 |
| 0° Compressive Modulus | ASTM D6641 | GPa | 50 |
| 0° Interlaminar Shear Strength | ASTM D2344 | MPa | 80 |
4. Application Breakthrough: Core Advantages in Filament Winding
This unidirectional prepreg holds irreplaceable superiority in filament winding. It achieves critical progress in laser-assisted in-situ curing, fundamentally solving the technical compatibility challenge between insulating fiber and high-speed laser winding.
Winding Process Compatibility
Uniform thickness and excellent flexibility enable precise tension control and layered laying on numerical winding machines, supporting efficient fabrication of uniform and variable-thickness rotary components including gas cylinders, pipelines and shells.
Laser-assisted In-situ Curing
Combined with laser heating system, it realizes integrated winding, melting and consolidation. Basalt fiber absorbs near-infrared laser (808 nm, 1064 nm) efficiently. Laser energy transfers from fiber surface to PEEK matrix, enabling rapid resin melting and interlayer welding.
Conventional glass fiber shows poor laser absorption due to high light transmittance, failing effective in-situ curing. Junhua Stock breaks the technical limitation of low efficiency for insulating fiber, realizing perfect matching between insulating fiber and high-speed laser winding.
With wide adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies like filament winding and automated laying, PEEKFRTP®BF-UD becomes an ideal substitute for traditional metals and thermosetting composites, featuring outstanding heat resistance, corrosion resistance, laser weldability and cost benefits.
Conclusion
From high-cost carbon fiber to cost-effective basalt fiber materials, Junhua Stock has long focused on specialty composite material R&D oriented to high-end market demands. The newly launched PEEKFRTP®BF-UD unidirectional prepreg targets import substitution of high-end special materials domestically. Customized width and fiber areal density are available to boost performance upgrading of high-end manufacturing industries.