VARIOUS ABRASIVES AND THEIR APPLICATION IN INDUSTRY

Posted by Larry on October 7th, 2015

There are many industries in the world today, which makes various tools and products which have made a person’s life easy. These industries use raw material which is found in abundance all over the world. Everything which we use or see in our daily life is an end result to combination of these basic elements itself.

Today many people wear denims and other sand wash designed jeans throughout the world. But no one knows how the jeans get their tint. It is the method of sandblasting by which these jeans take such lovely forms. Earlier people performing this technique manually in open air faced silicosis. This disease is caused due to the small dust particles which are dispersed in the air during sandblasting. These particles lead to congestion in lungs and ultimately cause silicosis. Hence, now this technique is performed while wearing protective gear for the whole body with a continuous supply of oxygen. Other uses of sandblasting include cleaning cracked paint off the wall, removing rust from metals and smoothening any surface. It is also used in providing quality finish to high end cars.

Most effective and cost saving technique to cut hard metals/material is waterjet cutting. The most popular component of water jet cutting is garnet 80 mesh. There are various types of garnet available in the market nowadays to provide different levels or precision cut. Due to its high melting point and hardness it provides precise cutting edges for any hard material. As the major part of this technique is comprised of water, it also speeds up the process of cutting. In this process a jet of water mixed with garnet 80 mesh is shot against the hard material to cut it in desires shapes. This method is used to create various machines’ parts. Due to high precision of cutting there is low quantity of scarp. Also due to the use or water for cutting, the material doesn’t change or loose its basic properties, as they loose when the material is cut by heating. Garnet is a natural filter as it cuts water, so it so also used as a filtering material.

Fused silica is another abrasive used as a substitute of garnet in sandblasting. This raw material is also used in creating high end optical fibers which are used by telecom industry for their network. Due to its high melting point and its strength, this material is used in optical industry to provide various end products such as halogen lamps, camera lenses. This is also used as fillers in making various toys and electronic items because of their insulating properties. Hence, is also used in laboratory equipment manufacturing industry. Lastly due to its high ultraviolet transmission it is used best for telescopes.