What Are Industrial Abrasives and What Types Are There?

Industrial abrasives are tools that shape or smooth a workpiece by rubbing against it. As the abrasive rubs against the workpiece, it wears away parts of the surface through friction. This will eventually make the surface smooth, but it can also give workpieces beaded, satin, reflective, or matte finishes as necessary. Used for sanding, buffing, polishing, grinding, and countless other forms of surface preparation, heavy-duty abrasives are found in most industrial manufacturing facilities and are available in a variety of natural and synthetic materials. Read on to learn more about abrasives and the many varieties available.

When selecting the best abrasive for your operations, you will find that they are available in a wide variety of materials that are either natural or man-made. For example, natural abrasives include minerals like diamond and emery, while man-made abrasives include aluminum oxide, titanium carbide, and more. Typically, natural crystals are used in special abrasive tools, while man-made materials are employed for more common tooling applications. Regardless of the materials used, abrasives are generally designed to either be bonded or coated. For example, bonded abrasives attach to a form of matrix such as clay or resin, turning them into a useful tool for grinding wheels and other machinery. On the other hand, coated abrasives like sandpaper have abrasive materials attached to a backing material like paper or cloth, leaving one side free of any abrasives. As such, coated abrasives are often handheld, with the sanding/smoothing process capable of being adjusted depending on material type, speed, and pressure.

Abrasives are employed in a number of ways in industrial operations. For example, they are often utilized to clean surfaces and remove coarse materials, but may also be helpful for shaping and sizing different workpieces as necessary. When looking at the various options, most people use man-made abrasives today because they are reliable and easy to work with in comparison to natural varieties. However, it is important to note that these materials are best used for smooth finishes, whereas stronger, natural materials that can resist fracture are a better choice for rough grinding.

Abrasives are available in three basic forms, those of which are bonded to build solid tools such as wheels, coated on backings to create strips and belts, and sprayed through liquid or air pressure like sandblasting. When a surface is scratched, abrasion has occurred, and to properly scratch a surface, the abrasive tool must be made of a substance that is rated higher on the Mohs scale than the surface it is modifying. According to the Mohs scale of hardness, materials that have a value of 6 to 10 can be used on glass, metal, stone, wood, plastic, and more. In order to determine how easy a material is to work with, one must consider its hardness, strength, and toughness. In this case, an object’s hardness determines how easy it is for the abrasive material to penetrate the surface, while strength and toughness show how easy it is to remove the penetrated material.

When your industrial operations require top-quality abrasives and other parts that suit a variety of applications, it is important to acquire what you need from a reliable source. At Integrated Industrials, we are proud to offer a wide variety of abrasives and components that have been sourced from leading manufacturers on our Approved Vendor List (AVL). In order to further guarantee the quality of our products, countless parts are subjected to rigorous quality assurance measures, undergoing visual inspection and document verification for the benefit of our customers. When you discover items of interest in our expansive catalogs, be sure to take advantage of our Request for Quote (RFQ) service to receive competitive quotes for your comparisons. While you complete the form found across our website, be sure to include relevant information like your target price and desired part quantity. With these details, a skilled team member will respond with a solution that meets your needs and restrictions alike within 15 minutes of receiving your submission.