1. What is Quartz Fiber
Quartz fiber is a white, soft, lustrous, weavable filament with excellent physical and chemical properties, making it a high-performance inorganic fiber material.
Special glass fiber filaments with a diameter of 1-15 μm are drawn from high-purity silica quartz after high-temperature melting.
They possess high heat resistance, allowing for long-term use at 1050℃ and as an ablation material at around 1200℃.
With a melting point of 1700℃, its temperature resistance is second only to carbon fiber.
Due to its excellent electrical insulation properties, its dielectric constant and dielectric loss coefficient are the best among all mineral fibers.
2. Production Process
Generally produced by refining and processing pure natural crystal into fused quartz glass fiber rods, which are then drawn into fibers with a purity of SiO2 > 99.99%.
2.1There are three methods for producing:
(1) Melting quartz rods or tubes in an oxyhydrogen flame and drawing them into fibers,
then blowing them through an oxyhydrogen flame blowpipe to produce quartz wool with a diameter of 0.7~1μm;
(2) Melting quartz in a flame and then forming short fibers and felts using a high-speed airflow;
(3) Passing quartz filaments or rods through an oxyhydrogen flame or a gas flame at a constant speed to soften them, and then drawing them into long filaments at high speed.
2.2Chemical Composition Analysis
As can be seen from Table 1, the composition of quartz fiber is basically the same as that of high-purity quartz glass,
and its properties are very close to those of high-purity quartz glass. The properties of quartz glass are shown in Table 2.
2.3 Superior electrical insulation properties
Exhibits excellent electrical insulation properties;
its dielectric constant and dielectric loss coefficient are the best among all mineral fibers.
The relationship between the dielectric constant, dielectric loss coefficient, and frequency of quartz glass fiber is shown in Figures 2 and 3.
2.4 Superior electrical insulation properties.
Its dielectric constant and dielectric loss coefficient are among the highest of all mineral fibers.
2.5 Excellent Mechanical Properties
The tensile strength of three times that of ordinary glass fiber.
A comparison of its tensile strength, tensile modulus, and elongation at break with glass fiber is shown in Table 4.
A comparison of the tensile strength and tensile modulus of quartz fiber and other fibers pre-impregnated with epoxy resin is shown in Table 5.
A comparison of the compressive strength, shear strength, and flexural strength of composite materials made from Kevlar fiber, glass fiber, and epoxy resin is shown in Table 6.
2.6 Extremely Superior Temperature Resistance
The softening temperature of quartz fiber is 1700℃. Ordinary quartz glass fiber can be used for extended periods at 600~1050℃.
When the temperature exceeds 1600℃, quartz glass fiber begins to sublimate—an endothermic reaction that dissipates heat energy.
Utilizing this property, quartz glass fiber can be used as an ablation material for spacecraft and intercontinental ballistic missile reentry.
In addition, quartz glass fiber does not shrink at high temperatures like high silica fiber.
After baking at 1000℃ for 1000 hours, the loss of quartz glass fiber is no more than 1.5%.