Most industrial abrasives used today are made from hard minerals and will used in order to shape or finish off a piece of work by rubbing. When the abrasive is rubbed against the item it causes part of its surface to wear away and this will then result in a reflective smooth appearance to it. However, there are some industrial abrasives around which can result in a much more roughened surface to the item being worked on instead providing it with a matte, beaded or satin finish.
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.
These synthetic stones often have both the physical and chemical characteristics that you would find in minerals which occur naturally. However, they are not able to be classified as minerals as they have not actually been constructed 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.
But just how effective the industrial abrasive is, is dependent on a number of different factors. One of these is the actual sizes of each grain or grit that makes up the abrasive material. The sizes from ones that are only 40 micrometers in size to those which are 2mm in size and these are the largest. But in order to get the right size pieces of grit for use in abrasive materials the mineral or synthetic stone needs to be crushed first. As it is crushed each piece of grit has rough edges to them that will end in points. This actually reduces the amount of surface which the abrasive comes into contact with but it does allow the user to localize the amount of pressure that they place on an item they are using the abrasive on.
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.
As you can see there are a wide variety of uses of industrial abrasives in a number of industries. A UK supplier of abrasives for these uses is RW Greeff who supply a large variety including Dynabrade abrasives and a range of other industrial consumables.
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