What ceramic abrasives are

Abrasives are minerals that are used in different mechanical processes in order to change and shape the shape, finish and texture in artisanal or industrial processes. By friction between a hard material and the surface to be treated, material is removed from the substrate and the desired result is obtained. The pressure exerted on the material to be treated, the speed of work and the type of movement that is performed on it will determine the shape of the material.

Since the Stone Age, there is evidence that human beings have used different materials to flatten, smooth, polish and sharpen different surfaces, including tools, knives and swords. These tasks were performed with natural abrasives, such as animal skins, and minerals such as talc and emery. Ceramic abrasives, which we will focus on in this article, are the result of mixing natural ceramics with some abrasive powders, including silicon carbide or quartz.

Ceramic abrasives are the result of mixing natural ceramic with powder abrasives

What ceramic abrasives are

Ceramic abrasives are those that are made of natural ceramic, which is usually mixed with other abrasive powders such as corundum - quartz and silicon carbide. Ceramic abrasives have a microcrystalline finish and are very uniform in structure, which means they can have many different applications.

As with the rest of current abrasives, the minerals used to obtain ceramic abrasives are natural, although they undergo different processes of refinement, hardening and purification in order to improve their properties.

The characteristics that define what that use will be are hardness, friability, toughness and cutting capacity:

• The hardness marks the resistance offered by a material to the pressure of another (the hardest diamond)

• Friability is the tendency of a material to generate new edges at the moment when the mineral breaks.

• Tenacity, on the other hand, indicates the amount of energy that a material can absorb, before breaking, while the cutting capacity reveals how sharp its edges are.

Treatment of ceramic abrasives

Ceramic abrasives are very dense and favor excellent grinding and finishing performance.

Among the different materials that may include aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, manufactured diamond, boron carbide, boron nitride, silicate, silicon carbide, zirconium, tin oxide, carbide of tungsten and other crystalline materials of inorganic character.