Information on Industrial Abrasives

The majority of industrial abrasives which are used in manufacturing processes are made from minerals (hard ones). These are used to then shape or provide a certain kind of finish to an item through rubbing against it. As the abrasives rub against the item they begin to wear the surface away. Sometimes the surface will have a smooth reflective finish and other times it will be somewhat rougher providing a satin, beaded or matte finish to it instead.

There are a number of different industries which will use abrasives in their manufacturing processes and the chemical and physical makeup of them will vary from one to the next. As well as many industries using abrasives to polish items others use them for grinding, honing, buffing, sanding, cutting, drilling and sharpening.

The majority of abrasives as we have mentioned are made from hard minerals which will have a rating of 7 or above on the Mohs scale. It is this scale which is a quick way of seeing just how hard a mineral is. Along with abrasives made from minerals there are some now being made using synthetic stones.

The majority of synthetic stones used in abrasive materials have a similar chemical and physical composition to those of the minerals. However, the major difference between these two types of materials used in abrasive products is that minerals occur naturally.

Of all the types of abrasives used for industrial purposes today diamond is the most commonly used. As well as being made naturally this particular abrasive material can also be produced synthetically as well. Most of the diamonds that will be dug from the ground have been made from corundum, whilst those that have been produced by man will have been made using bauxite.

The diamond is one of the hardest substances known to man and yet there are plenty of minerals which are far softer than this and which can also are used for abrasive materials. One of the softest minerals being used today is calcium carbonate and this is frequently used as a polishing agent in toothpastes. It is this mineral in the toothpaste which will actually help to improve the whiteness of a person’s teeth overtime.

There are a number of different factors to be taken into consideration and these will affect just how effective the industrial abrasive is. The main one of these is the size of each grain that is used in abrasive methods. The actual size of each piece will vary from method to method. Some pieces are as little as 40micrometers whilst the largest pieces of abrasive grit (grain) will be no more than 2mm. In order to get the right size pieces of grit for use in industrial abrasives the minerals or synthetic stones will be crushed. The actual piece of the mineral or synthetic stone which comes into contact with the surface is very small this means much more pressure can be placed upon it.

As the industrial abrasives are used the grains which make it up will cause parts of the items surface to break away and leave the desired finish. But also at the same time the abrasive material begins to lose some of its grains as well and eventually overtime these will then need to be replaced to ensure that the right finish is provided every time.