ABRASIVE DISCS: HOW THEY ARE MADE from Western Tool Company

Abrasive Discs - Learning About Backing and Grains For These Industrial Products

Guest Post By Richard C. Milton
Abrasive discs operate with the use of the so-called abrasive grains. The grains are usually applied to backing materials produced from different types of cloth, film, paper, fiber and even non-woven materials. Abrasive grains are somewhat responsible in removing metal, glass, paint, plastics and ceramics.
Abrasive discs are used in a lot of industries most especially those that require surface preparation. Processes include sanding, cleaning, polishing and dry and wet grinding. The industries that these products serve are metal and woodworking, semiconductor production and ceramic manufacture. Depending on the grain, grit size, mounting and backing, the discs may be applied to other industries.
Types of abrasive disc backing
These discs are produced out of different backing types. First on the list are cloth discs produced out of woven fabrics like cotton. These are utilized in industries where abrasive planing is required. A second type of disc backing comes from fiber. These ones are said to be thicker than cloth. They operate through the use of chemically treated fibers of cotton and cellulose. The main drawback of this abrasive disc backing type is it curls in humid weather conditions.

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A film abrasive disc is the third type of backing for abrasive discs. In such a type, abrasive grains are found on a plastic film. The likes of sponge discs on the other hand are those whose abrasive grains are bonded to a layer of foam or sponge or any other soft materials such as felt paper. Metal discs - a fifth type - are those with abrasive grains usually bonded to metals including brass and aluminum. Among the list of abrasive backing types are other forms like non-woven, paper and screen.
Types of abrasive grains

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Aside from learning about the different abrasive disc backing types, it pays to gain knowledge about
the various abrasive grains used in order to fulfill the applications of an abrasive disc. To come up with abrasive ceramic grains, aluminum oxide may be used solely or in combination with other components such as crocus and emery. Other materials used in order to come up with abrasive disc grains are tungsten carbine, silicon carbide, aluminum-zirconia and garnet.
There are also super-abrasive grains or diamond pastes. These are relatively important in industries that depend upon lapping and ferrous polishing. One of the materials used in order to come up with a super-abrasive grain for abrasive discs is cubic boron nitride. This is a component that is favored for its hardness and its capacity to provide superior grinding for both alloy steel and carbon.

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