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Abrasive Grains

As a kind of materials, abrasive grains can be distinguished in a variety of ways. They are classified as either natural or synthetic abrasives by manufacturing; either conventional or super abrasives by using history.Learn more

Green Silicon Carbide Specifications

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Guide for Green Silicon Carbide Specifications

Form

The raw abrasive materials or ingots are crushed and sized from blocks to grains and powders ranging from macrogrits to microgrits.

Block:Blocky raw abrasive materials or ingots that are crushed by various crushers, which gradually break them up into smaller or manageable sizes.

Grain:A small, hard particle or crystal of abrasive materials that are typically sized or graded by a series of mesh sieves.

Powder:Much finer grits that are separated by hydraulic flotation and sedimentation or by air classification.

Particle Shape

The particle shape of abrasive grains affects their performance in various ways, such as the subsurface damage level and stock removal rate.

Angular:An angular abrasive has sharp but not weak, platy or needlelike edges, which ensure the quickest cleaning rate when removing tightly adhering material or contamination from the substrate.

Blocky:A blocky or rounded abrasive has mostly flat edges. The blocky shape enhances toughness and bulk density of the grain, providing good cleaning rate in most applications, except for those substrates with hard-to-remove contaminants.

Sharp:A sharp abrasive has much sharper edges than the angular one. They are generally required for producing aggressive and fast cutting coated abrasives, grinding wheels, etc.

Irregular:A variety of highly irregular shapes are possible through different manufacturing processes for specific applications. Typically, the irregular or crushed shapes are very angular with sharp edges for abrading, cutting or grinding.

Other:Other unusual shapes for abrasive materials.

Grading System

Abrasives are measured by different grading system standards that define a limited range of particle sizes for each grade. So the grit size designations are not consistent across different grading systems.

ANSI:American grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains. ANSI stands for "American National Standards Institute".

FEPA:European grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains. FEPA stands for "Federation of European Producers of Abrasives Products".

JIS:Japanese grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains. JIS stands for "Japanese Industrial Standards".

ISO:International grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains. ISO stands for "International Organization for Standardization".

GB/T:Chinese grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains.

SAE:"Society of Automotive Engineers" (SAE) grading or grit size standards for sand blasting.

Other:Other unlisted, proprietary, or specialized grading or grit size system.

Applications

Bonded Abrasives:Bonded abrasives are made of natural or synthetic abrasive grains which are bound together with a vitrified or resinoid or other bond into a mold usually in the shape of a wheel, then pressed and fired at high temperatures. Bonded abrasives, which can be made from different materials, come in thousands of shapes and sizes depending on the type needed and specific application required, such as cutting-off and grinding wheels, snagging wheels, mounted wheels, segments, honing stones, plugs, cones, etc.

Blasting:Abrasives are used as blasting media, to clean or prepare surfaces prior to applying coatings or to produce a desired surface profile, by propelling very fine bits of material at high-velocity. Blasting is used for finishing, surface texturing, roughening, frosting/ etching, degreasing, deburring, deflashing, descaling, stripping of coatings, and surface preparation of products made of metal, wood, plastic, glass, or other materials. Any small, relatively uniform particles will work, such as steel grits, copper slags, walnut shells, powdered abrasives, even bits of coconut shells.

Cleaning/ Surface Prep:Abrasives are used as finishing media for cleaning and surface preparation products, applied for cleaning, degreasing, de-oiling, texturing, descaling, discoloration removal, roughening, and other surface preparation applications.

Coated Abrasives:Abrasive grains are used to make coated abrasives such as sandpaper and are available in sheets, discs, rolls, belts, pads, flap wheels, and other forms. Coated abrasives are a product of three basic elements: abrasive grains, bond and backing. Abrasive grains can be either natural or synthetic, such as aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, zirconia alumina, garnet, emery, etc. The abrasive grain is adhered to a cloth, fiber, paper or polyester film backing by a resin or glue or other bond. Abrasive grains should exhibit high capillarity for instant adhesion to bonds.

Deburring/ Deflashing:Abrasives are designed or suitable for applications such as removing burrs, sharp corners, part or welding lines and flash (deflashing).

Descaling/ Stripping:Abrasive grits or media are designed or suitable for descaling or coating stripping applications.

Fast Cutting/ Aggressive:Coarse grit abrasives are typically designed or suitable for fast cutting and aggressive applications such as heavy duty cutting or hard materials removal.

Grinding/ Ball Milling:Abrasive media are applied for ball milling or grinding down of a solid material or powder into smaller pieces or finer powders. The material being ground and the media (ceramic bead, hard metal shot, carbide balls or other ball shaped media) are filled in the ball mill for rotating, grinding and mixing by mechanical forces. The hardness of the material or powder being ground determines what kind of media's material will be selected. Media grinding or ball milling is widely used in producing cement, silicate, new type building materials, fireproofing, chemical fertilizer, black and non-ferrous metal, and glass ceramics. Besides, also used to produce alloys from metal powders.

Polishing/ Lapping:Finer abrasive grains are used to make polishing/lapping compounds, coated abrasive lapping films, superfinishing bonded abrasives, etc. Polishing and lapping are characterized by very fine surface finishes, high dimensional accuracy and flatness, and minimal subsurface damage. They are the precision processes applied for mechanical and electronic or semiconductor components, to produce a smooth, bright and lustrous surface.

Refractory:Abrasive grains that have excellent chemical stability and thermal property, such as fused mineral brown fused alumina, have hundreds of different applications as refractory materials due to their ability to withstand continuous exposure to the combination of heat, corrosion, abrasion and impact. 

Tumbling/ Mass Finishing:Abrasives are used as or for the fabrication of tumbling and mass finishing media for the applications of deburring, burnishing, coloring, descaling, polishing or cleaning for parts and components during finishing processes. The selection of shape (such as ball, cone, ballcone, wedge, pin, taper, cylinder, cut wire, diagonal, angle cut, diamond, cube, oval ball, eclipse or ball with flat, crushed grit, pyramid, triangle, and star or tristar) and material (such as natural and synthetic abrasive grain, metal, ceramic, plastic, wood, nutshell, corncob, carbonate or mineral) of tumbling and mass finishing media should be selected depend on particular tasks.

Wire Sawing:Wire sawing is method for slicing and cutting silicon wafers, granite and stone, and other crystals. Because of its high yield and small kerf loss for crystals cutting, wire sawing is particularly effective for semiconductor materials. The wire saw uses a moving taut wire carrying abrasive slurry which acts as the cutting agent between the work piece and the wire, to create the cutting action with high load capacity and speed by powerful drives.

Abrasive Jet Cutting:Abrasive jet cutting process makes use of a focused stream mixed with extremely fine and precise abrasive particles propelled by a high velocity gas or pressure, to cut sheet materials or to remove materials from a surface. Garnet grain is most widely used in abrasive water jet cutting. Aluminum oxide or silicon carbide particles are most commonly used in air abrasive jet cutting. Abrasive jet is capable of cutting heat-sensitive, brittle, thin, or hard materials, and specifically to cut intricate shapes or form specific edge shapes.

Blending & Intermediate Cutting:Blending and intermediate cutting is the process of removing parting line, welding line, or other significant surface defect. Medium or medium fine grit abrasives are typically capable for applications of light cutting or intermediate material removal.

Peening:Peening is the process that makes use of a mass and velocity stream of shot, to produce a residual compressive stress at the surface, or to deburr sharp edges without removing material. Each shot striking the surface imparts a small indentation or dimple on the surface of the work piece. Meanwhile, the surface yields in tension due to localized stretching that occurs, while the near surface layer is left in a residual compressive state due to the material’s attempt to restore the surface to its original shape. Induced compressive stress improves fatigue strength. Peening shot and bead can be small metal ball or glass bead.

Specialty:Other unlisted grinding, blasting, finishing, and abrasives applications.

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