How Abrasive Papers are made?

by Pooja Late so cut

Background 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.