Types And Usages Of Abrasive

By Author: Daniel Owen
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Abrasives are commonplace and are used in a wide range on domestic, industrial and technological applications, they are used extensively in these sectors. An abrasive is a type of material, it can often be a mineral. Abrasives are used to finish or shape a workpiece, rubbing the abrasive on the workpiece leads to part of the workpiece being worn away. When finishing a material it is often thought of as a means to polish the material to gain a smooth surface or even reflective surface, however some finishes require roughening as in beaded, matte or satin finishes.

Common uses for abrasives include the following:
Buffing
Drilling,
Grinding
Sanding
Polishing
Cutting
Sharpening

Abrasion is a term given rise by Abrasives describing a wound or excoriation, Abrasions can occur from strong contact with certain surface like: Stone, Concrete, Carpet and Wood.

The Mechanics of Abrasion

The difference in hardness between the Abrasive and the surface they are worked on is what allows the Abrasive to work, the Abrasive being the harder of the 2 substances. However ...
... any 2 solid materials that tend to rub against eachother will eventually wear eachother away. An example of this is the sole of a shoe, after decades it will eventually wear away wooden or stone steps that are repeatedly walked upon.

Abrasives - Manufactured

You will find abrasives come in different shapes and these are because they have different purposes. Natural Abrasives are often in the form of a rectangular block and often solid as dressed stone. Both synthetic and natural Abrasives can be found in a wide variety of shapes, they are often Coated or Bonded Abrasives including, Wheels, Blocks, Discs, Belts, Rods, Loose Grain and Sheets.

Coated Abrasives

The most common type of Coated Abrasive is Sandpaper, a Coated Abrasive is an Abrasive fixed on to a form of backing material like paper, metal, rubber, resin, cloth and polyester. Coated abrasives tend to use the same minerals as Bonded Abrasives. A bonding agent like a resin or an adhesive is applied to the flat surface (paper for example) in which the mineral is applied, this forms the grit like surface of sandpaper.

Coated abrasives are often shaped for a specific purpose like to wrap around hand pads or sanding blocks, they can also be shaped for use in orbital or rotary sanders. The striking surface of a matchbox is a good example of how an abrasive can be used, Belt grinders are also another form of abrasive.

Bonded Abrasives

The most common abrasive used here is Aluminium Oxide, Bonded Abrasives are an Abrasive material contained within a matrix. A sharpening stone is a Bonded Abrasive; these tend to be in the form of a block with both sides having different densities of grit.

Another type of Bonded Abrasive is a Grinding Wheel, this is a cylinder that is rotated at a very high speed the cylinder has an Abrasive surface in with the material to be finished is pressed against whle it spins.

About Author:

Daniel Owen writes about Abrasives. To know more about Abrasives, visit http://www.businessmagnet.co.uk