Toll Free: 877-841-1837

Abrasive Material Types & Industrial Applications of Abrasives

December 26, 2020

Abrasives are typically made of hard metals used to shape or complete a piece of work in various industrial and domestic applications for woodworking and metalwork.

In general, abrasives are used by hand or machine to grind wood or mineral pieces away. It gives a sleek, elegant, or finished look or slowly carries away a part of the material until the aspirated form is achieved.

Types of Abrasive Material

Abrasives are divided into two main sections: synthetic and natural. Synthetic abrasives are intended for the reconstruction of organic material and are manufactured instead of excavated.

The classification of abrasives (unnatural) mainly includes two names: coated and bonded abrasives. These are most common among all types of abrasives in grinding rollers, bands, sticks, plates, blocks, free grain, sanding sponges, and boards.

Bonded Abrasives

Bonded abrasives are those used for many aspects of woodworking and metal finishing or cutting applications made into grinding wheels, cut off wheels, parts, cones, and other such forms or "bonded" types. With a drill or rotary tool, bonded abrasives are commonly used.

The idea of connecting abrasive material, whether natural or synthetic, is that the grain bits remain together to provide a rigid material for the cutting or grinding objectives.

Read: Types of Cutting Tools

Coated Abrasives

Coated abrasives are metals that can also be used for abrasive bonding. The two types of abrasive layers are free and closed coats. Fifty percent to 75 percent of the cover is covered with abrasive grain in an open abrasive coat.

Materials such as corundum, garnet, silicon carbide, light brownish aluminum oxide, heat-treated aluminum oxide, zirconia alumina, and ceramic alumina are mixed into these grains.

There are many types of coated abrasives available in the market, like sanding disc, Sanding belts, cord, etc.

What is Backing Types?

Paper, cloth, film, or fiber are the abrasive backing variants. Backing, adhesive, and metals compose the coated abrasive structure. Usually, the minerals or grains are added to the backing and most commonly contain a coat of both make and scale. To the backing, a make coat is used, then the metal or grain is used, followed by a size coat of adhesive.

Basically, there are two types of backing:

Paper Backings

There are six weights or widths for paper backings: A, B, C, D, E, and F.

The lightweight papers used for light to medium grade grains are A and B tones. Usually, these are used for hand sanding and electric handheld sanders.
B is marginally thicker and more valuable than paperweight A.
C and D weight paper backings are an average thickness of weight used mainly for medium grade grains and is usually used for sheets, discs, and light-duty sanding areas.
E and F weight papers are stronger and more durable, ready to assist with heavier grains’ hard sanding.
E and F are primarily used for production sanding and take paper, belts, and discs from the file board. For drums and cones, F density is often used.

Cloth Backings

Cotton, rayon, and polyester consist of cloth backings. In weights J, X, Y, M, S, T, and Z, the supporting density and stiffness are labeled.

The weight of J is the cotton backing's thinnest and most durable.
X weight is average and controls the most careful selection of applications, such as instruments.
For complicated drills designed for heavy-duty applications, the Y weight is used.
One of the more critical cotton fabric backings used for more specialized heavy-duty applications is the M weight.
With T weight being practiced with a high horsepower unit, A and T weights are used in extra broadcloth belts and offer the maximum strength in both knitting directions.

Rayon is flexible and resistant to tearing and fraying. Polyester is a stable and rigid backing used in treatments requiring extra strength and a water-resistant fabric backing. For the drum and disc sanding services made from rag stock, grain backing is complicated and vital but versatile.

Another yard and flexible backrest used for very light to medium grain disc rolls and areas are a polyester film. In conjunction with water-based solvents, film materials are typically used as the backing is entirely waterproof.

Applications of Abrasives

The industrial (machinery, manufacturing) sector has broad uses of abrasives.

Below are some typical abrasives’ typical applications: grinding, polishing, buffing, honing, cutting, drilling, sharpening, lapping, and sanding.

Typical Applications & Uses of abrasives

Followings are the typical applications of abrasive:

Buffing: The buffing is polishing & smoothening a workpiece surface using an abrasives wheel or Buffing products. Buffing removes roughcasting, pits, and solemn or slight scratches, on any type of metal.
Honing: Honing is an abrasive machining process that provides a sharp surface on a metal (example: Knife) by scrubbing an abrasive grinding stone or grinding wheel.
Drilling: Drilling is a cutting method that uses a drill bit to cut a circular cross-section hole in solid (metal, wood) materials.
Grinding: Grinding is an abrasive machining process that uses a grinding wheel as the cutting tool. A Grinding wheel is an abrasive tool with thousands of cutting points on its surface to achieve precise finishes.
Polishing: Polishing is a finishing process for smoothing a workpiece's surface using an abrasive wheel or a leather strop. Mainly polishing refers to methods that use an abrasive that is glued to the polishing wheel.
Cutting: The cutting tool, as the name implies, is used in machining technology for cutting operations. A cutting tool is a sharp-edged device to shear off the excess material layer from the workpiece to give it the perfect shape and finishing.
Sharpening: Sharpening creates a sharp edge on a tool using abrasives of finishing or designed for cutting.