Use of Industrial Abrasives

by: MarcusRonan
Total views: 23 | Word Count: 541

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.

These abrasives are extremely commonplace and are used in a variety of different industries. Because of this the chemical and physical composition of the abrasive being used varies greatly from one industry to the next. Along with abrasives being used to polish the surface of an item they are also used for buffing, grinding, honing, drilling, sharpening, sanding and cutting.

As mentioned previously most industrial abrasives today are made from hard minerals that have achieved a rating of seven or above on the Mohs scale. This scale is used as a way of testing and classifying just how hard a mineral is. Whilst there are other abrasives used for industrial purposes today which are made from 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.

The most common type of abrasive that is used for industrial purposes is the diamond. This particular abrasive not only occurs naturally but can also be synthetically produced. In nature the diamond will have been constructed from corundum but those which are manufactured are made from bauxite.

Diamond is one of the hardest abrasives known to man, but there are plenty of much softer minerals which can be used as an abrasive. One such soft mineral is calcium carbonate and this is often used as a polishing agent in toothpaste. It is this mineral in your toothpaste which helps to improve the whiteness of your teeth.

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.

When using industrial abrasives the force that is applied on the grains that make it up will cause parts of the item being worked on to break away. As this happens the abrasive actually begins to become much smoother and this also causes some of the grains contained within it to come loose and eventually over time it will need to be replaced.

About the Author

There are a wide number of uses for industrial abrasives in the engineering and manufacturing fields. RW Greeff are a supplier of industrial abrasives such as Dynabrade abrasives and a range of products to business and domestic users.  

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