How Abrasive Papers are made?
by Pooja Late so cutBackground of
Coated Abrasives
When the term abrasive
paper is mentioned, it is generally understood that what comes to one’s
mind is a sandpaper that wood workers and carpenters use to prepare furniture.
However, the term ‘Abrasive’ encompasses a wide spectrum of materials that have
abrasive properties and are used accordingly, with respect to their properties.
In essential, abrasive materials are just a single layer of grit, backed with a
smooth coat for handling it. It comes in various shapes, discs and also in
papers. A wide array of abrasive materials is generally used in industries to
prepare, finish and polish surfaces.
Coated abrasives
original intended use was limited in the earlier times. They were simply used for
finishing, polishing and preparing the surfaces. However, with technological
advancements and better understanding of abrasives, their usage was
diversified. Industrial application of coated abrasives is extremely large. For
instance, industries equip motors of 300 horse power to power abrasive belts to
grind steel, spanning several feet long and wide.
The investment
required for the industry is considerable high: The main costs for the
manufacturing process include for the equipment, raw materials, power and
labour. As a business solution and also as an intelligent way of handling
things, the large reams of the coated abrasives are sold as various products:
In forms of discs, belts etc.
Raw Materials
Sandpaper is
generally made with minerals, adhesives and backings, debunking the name as it
does not have any of the sand nor the paper. The minerals used to make
sandpapers can be either natural or synthetic. The companies that manufacture
sandpapers generally purchase all the individual components from industries
specializing in the manufacture of the raw material. Minerals are usually
provided by mining companies. Synthetic minerals, however, are produced in
refractories. There are many vendors who can provide adhesives based on the
material specifications provided. The backing is usually a fabric, with a
flexibility aspect to it. They are usually supplied by the companies that deals
in fabrics.
The minerals
used as an abrasive agent in the sandpapers can be natural as well as
synthetic. Natural minerals such as garnet, emery is ideal for small scale
applications such as wood preparations etc. Due to their weak strength they
cannot be used for large scale and specialized operations. For highly tedious
processes such as preparing and polishing a metal, use of synthetic minerals
are required. The natural minerals just take up one percent of the share of the
abrasives on the market. Synthetic minerals are generally preferred in such
application because they cane be made stringer by adjusting the process parameters
to produce strong and highly bonded mineral structures.
The backing is
one of the most important part of the coated abrasives that help the abrasives
survive such high and rough processes. The backing has to have a decent amount
of flexibility and with various technological advancements, the quality of the
backing has improved which has also aided in the improvement of the quality of
the coated abrasives.
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Created on Oct 16th 2020 04:21. Viewed 201 times.