Exploring the Potential of Alternate Inorganic Fibers for Automotive Composites

Composites are a promising material for high-specific strength applications; specifically, fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) are in the limelight for their extraordinary mechanical properties. Amongst all FRPCs, carbon fiber reinforcements are dominant in the aerospace and automotive industry; however, their high cost poses a great obstacle in commercial-scale manufacturing. To this end, we explored alternate low-cost inorganic fibers such as basalt and rockwool as potential replacements for carbon fiber composites. In addition to fibrous inclusions to polymers, composites were also fabricated with inclusions of their respective particulates formed using ball milling of fibers. Considering automotive applications, composites' mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties were compared for all samples. Regarding mechanical properties, rockwool fiber and basalt fiber composites showed 30.95% and 20.77% higher impact strength than carbon fiber, respectively. In addition, rockwool and basalt fiber composites are less stiff than carbon and can be used in low-end applications in the automotive industry. Moreover, rockwool and basalt fiber composites are more thermally stable than carbon fiber. Thermogravimetric analysis of carbon fiber composites showed 10.10 % and 9.98 % higher weight loss than basalt and rockwool fiber composites, respectively. Apart from better impact and thermal properties, the low cost of rockwool and basalt fibers provides a key advantage to these alternate fibers at the commercial scale.