Abrasive

Abrasives

Description

Hard, fine particles used to polish metals, stone, wood, glass, and other materials. Naturally occurring materials used as abrasives include Diamond, Emery, Corundum, Sand, Garnet, Quartz, Pumice, diatomite, Kaolin, Fuller's earth, Talc, Chalk, and cuttlefish bone. Manufactured materials used as abrasives include Silicon carbide, Aluminum oxide, Zirconium oxide, Titanium dioxide, green rouge (Chromic oxide), Stannic oxide, cerium oxide, Glass, Boron carbide, boron nitride, and Synthetic diamond. Abrasives are sold as powders, slurries, and as abrasive cloths, papers, and wheels. They are characterized by hardness and particle size. Their hardness can be measured on the Mohs' scale in which the diamond is rated as a 10. Mild abrasives, such as chalk and talc, have a hardness of 1-3 Mohs. Diamond and silicon carbide are hard abrasives. Particle size depends on the mesh of the sieves used for separation, i.e. a 600 grit abrasive contains particles 8 micrometers and smaller.

Synonyms and Related Terms

diamond; emery; corundum; sand; garnet; quartz; pumice; diatomite; kaolin; fuller's earth; talc; chalk; cuttlefish bone; silicon carbide; aluminum oxide; zirconium oxide; titanium dioxide; green rouge; chromic oxide; tin oxide; cerium oxide; glass; boron carbide; boron nitride; steel wool; abrasive paper; lubrisil, micromesh; abrasive powder; crocus powder; jewelers rouge; rottenstone; tripoli powder; whiting; Schleifmittel (Deut.); abrasif (Fr.);

Comparisons

Compound	Names	Chemical classification	Source	Color	Hardness	Density	Particle size	Commercial product names
diamond	balla, bort, carbonado	carbon	Naturally occuring primarily in Africa, southeast Asia, South America and Australia; Synthetic-made in 1955	transparent to black	10.0	3.51-3.53
emery	corundum; emery flour, jeweler's emery	oxide	Natural mixture of corundum and magnetite; used since ancient times	black	8.0-9.0	3.7-4.3		Carborundum
silicon dioxide	sand, silica, quartz, glass, flint, chert, tripoli powder	oxide	Naturally occuring world-wide	clear to opaque	5.5-7.0	2.2-2.6		Silex
garnet	pyrope, almandine, carbuncle	silicate	Mineral	red	6.5-7.5	3.52-4.32
pumice	potassium aluminum silicate	silcate	Natural volcanic mineral-used since ancient times	gray	6.0-6.5
diatomite	diatomaceous earth, fossil flour, siliceous earth, infusorial earth,	silicate	Mineral skeletons of water plants	gray		1.9-2.35		Snow Floss, Celite®, Sil-O-Cel, Super-Cel, Kenite®, Diactiv®, Primisil®
kaolin	kaolinite, China clay, Devonshire clay, bolus alba, procelain clay, argilla, fuller's earth	silicate	Naturally occuring world-wide	white	2.0 - 2.5	2.6-2.63
talc	talcum, soapstone, steatite, asbestine, tailors chalk	silicate	Naturally occuring world-wide	white, gray or green	1.0	2.5-2.8	2.0
calcium carbonate	chalk, whiting, calcite	carbonate	Naturally occuring in most part's of the world as marble, limestone, and sea shells	white	3.0	1.8-2.7
iron oxide	hematite, colcothar, crocus powder, ferric oxide, jeweler's rouge, optical rouge	oxide	Naturally occuring world-wide. Used since ancient times	red	5.5 - 6.5	4.2-5.3
silicon carbide	Carborundum	carbide	Synthetic-discovered in 1884	green to black	9.0-9.5	3.22-3.23		Micromesh, Carborundum, Unirundum, Carbofrax
aluminum oxide	alumina, corundum, sapphire	oxide	Mineral (corundum); Synthetic-first made in 1888	white	8.8-9.0	2.8-4.0		Alundum®, Aloxite, Bauxilite
titanium dioxide	titania	oxide	Mineral (rutile); Synthetic-anatase made in 1906; rutile made in 1938	white	6.0-6.5	4.26	0.2-0.5 micrometers	Titanox; Unitane
zirconium oxide	zircon, zirconia	oxide	Mineral (baddeleyite); synthetic	white		5.85
chromic oxide	chromia, green rouge	oxide	Synthetic-first made in 1809	dull green			0.1-1.0 micrometers
stannic oxide	putty powder, jeweler's putty, tin dioxide	oxide	Mineral (cassiterite)	white	6.0-7.0	6.6-6.9
cerium oxide	ceric oxide, ceria	oxide		brown				Ceriorouge
tungsten carbide		carbide
boron carbide		carbide	Synthetic	black	9.0	2.60
metal wool	steel wool, bronze wool	metal
rottenstone		silicate
feldspar		silicate	Naturally occuring world-wide.
plant products	walnut shells, rice husk, dusting powder (cellulose)	cellulose
animal products	fish skin, horse tail, horse hair
whetstone	oilstone, snakestone, honestone, rubbing stone, coticule, Ayr stone

Downloads/Print

Properties of Common Abrasives (Excel)

Properties of Common Abrasives (pdf)

Resources and Citations

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "abrasive" [Accessed October 2, 2003].
• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 4
• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982
• Robert Fournier, Illustrated Dictionary of Practical Pottery, Chilton Book Company, Radnor, PA, 1992
• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997
• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998
• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrasive (Accessed Jan. 15, 2006)
• Hermann Kuhn, Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities, Butterworths, London, 1986
• Tom Rowland, Noel Riley, A-Z Guide to Cleaning, Conserving and Repairing Antiques, Constable and Co., Ltd., London, 1981
• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000