COMMONLY KNOWN ABRASIVES AND THEIR USES

Posted by Larry on October 7th, 2015

Abrasives, the minerals which are used to furnish, shape or cut almost all the things that are used in day to day life. This is the most commonly used minerals in modern industries and tech applications. These are used to shape or finish a work piece by continuously rubbing its surface to provide a smoothen finish. They can also be used to make a surface material’s surface rough or to provide an edgy finish to a product. Most common uses of abrasives include buffing instruments and cars, drilling hard materials, grinding big stones, providing sharpness to a product, and sanding which is smoothening of any surface with the used of sandpaper.

There are mainly two types or abrasives in the market today. Firstly bonded abrasives, which is the use or mineral coating over a round or other kind of molding used to furnish or buff a metal surface. These are mostly in the form of blocks or sticks. Some of these also have teeth to sharpen the material. Second is a coated abrasive, which one may also know as sand paper. It may be called sand paper but it is not made of only one kind of sand. This is the simplest tool for flattening the surface of wood which is used by every carpenter in the world.

Silica sand is the best example of easily available abrasive known to a man. This is used in making sandpapers also. As the name suggest its sand, which is the most common variety of the sand found in the world. And it is impossible to think a life without this. It is found in roads, in concrete producing industries, in glass industry and in water filtration systems. Apart from its use, this mineral also poses a serious health risk to who so ever comes in constant contact of it. A person may develop lung cancer if proper precautions are not taken. Such as people on construction sites, or open- air sand blasting practices.

Other commonly used abrasive is silicon carbide. This mineral is rarely found and is used in every industry one can think of. It is used as an abrasive in cutting tools. Silicon carbide manufacturer uses small metal plates which are inline inside the fabric to make it a bullet proof vest. It is used in creating automotive parts of a car such as disc brakes and alloys for car wheels. Due to its high resistance property it is used in much electrical system which requires high voltage to work. It is even used in telescope mirrors because of its high hardness and thermal conductivity. But the most unique use of this mineral is in jewelry, this is due to its close structural property to diamond.