Zirconia Silicate Beads

Zirconia Silicate Beads – Definitive Guide

If you’re looking to perform some high-quality surface treatments, then consider using Zirconia Silicate beads.

These not only have a long life but also prove to be cost-effective.

That’s because you won’t need to change them often. They’re an off-white color with a smooth, shiny surface.

Depending on the applications you would like them for, they can come in a variety of sizes. Apart from that, they also work well with both wheel and compressed air systems.

Zirconia Silicate beads also have a better performance record when compared to glass and alumina beads. As a result, they can be used for both wet and dry finishing processes.

How Are Zirconia Silicate Beads Made?

To get the ideal Zirconia Silicate beads, you start with powdered ingredients.

Of the entire composition, the majority would need to consist of ZrO2, at over 60%.

The next compound will be SiO2 as well as other additional compounds.

Once you’ve mixed the ZrSiO4 powder, it goes through slurry processing. After that, it’s taken through a spray tower to dry it out quickly.

In the process, Zirconia Silicate granules start to form.

These then get transferred to a ball forming machine.

Here, the Zirconia Silicate beads get formed to the client’s preferred size.

In case you’re unsure of what size would work best for you, get professional advice before requesting your beads.

The formed media then heads over to a kiln for firing.

This is a necessary step to help ensure the formed beads hold their shape.

They then proceed to the finished products kiln, which is a final baking process.

Once that’s complete, the Zirconia Silicate beads go through a selection process.

Through this, the manufacturer removes any misshapen or defective media from the entire batch created.

For you to ensure you only get what you ordered, the generated media first gets sorted through a machine.

From that point, the remaining media gets checked by hand for quality assurance.

If they all meet the required standards, then they get packaged. Trusted manufacturers can guarantee the quality of what they produce as the entire process gets documented.

Features of Zirconia Silicate Beads

For them to perform their different intended tasks, Zirconia Silicate beads have exemplary features. These include the fact that:

• They are perfect spheres with smooth surfaces. These make them ideal for creating polished surface finishes. They also minimize friction that could cause the machine to wear faster.
• They have low water absorption. With this quality, it’s a guarantee that the media will not dissolve when used with water.
• They are break-resistant since their density makes them well suited for your large volume grinding needs. They won’t break from the extreme impact.
• The sintering process that creates them means they’re densely packed. You will not experience issues from porousness that could cause it to break easily and have shape irregularities. No breakage also means that they’re virtually contamination-free media.
• They have high crushing strength, which increases the gravity needed. Add that to its low bead wear rate, and you have the ideal media for fine grinding.

Zirconia Silicate Bead Applications

If you’re considering using Zirconia Silicate beads, then you need to be aware of some of its applications.

These areas are where you will get the most usage from this media.

It’s worth noting that with Zirconia Silicate beads, performance doesn’t reduce even with daily use for grinding processes.

1. For use with nanomaterials, pharmaceutical products, and food products since there is minimal contamination associated with its use.
2. It is recommended for fine-grinding materials like zircon.
3. Ideal for milling ink, pigment, lighter paint shades, and coatings.
4. It also works well for color dispersions, which would otherwise get discolored if steel media got used.
5. They’re ideal for the superfine dispersal of chemical products like pesticides.
6. Recommended for use on solar cells, dielectric, semiconductors, batteries, and electronic materials.
7. They are excellent media for fine grinding and dispersing of minerals like kaolin, titanium dioxide, calcium carbonate, and agrochemicals.
8. You can use it with ceramic glazes, magnetic materials, and cosmetics.

Which Machines Can Use Zirconia Silicate Beads?

Choosing the ideal machine for your parts relies mainly on what you need to get done.

Would you like to grind or polish your items? The answer will determine the best machine for the job.

With Zirconia Silicate beads, some of the machines that are compatible with them include:

1. Horizontal sand mills – these are ideal for dispersion applications such as inks, paints, and coatings. These are a preferred option since loading and unloading is easy because of its horizontal design. They’re also perfect for fine grinding activities, using Zirconia Silicate beads as small as 0.1mm-3.0mm.
2. Vertical sand mills – these are similar to the horizontal sand mills, only they’re upright. They’re also suitable for dispersion processes such as the wetting and grinding of certain raw materials. You can use Zirconia Silicate beads that are between 1.0mm-3.0mm.
3. Basket mills – Like the vertical sand mills, these can also grind and disperse materials. However, they offer a much greater level of dispersion. They work best with Zirconia Silicate beads ranging between 1.8mm-3.0mm
4. Ball mills – These are ideal for grinding applications on ores, ceramic materials, chemicals, among others. They’re popular with steel media. However, you can use Zirconia Silicate beads between 2.0mm-6.0mm instead.
5. Vibration mills – These are similar to ball mills, creating more force to help the grinding process. That’s because the media and parts have a smaller space, causing them to stay in contact for longer. You can use Zirconia Silicate beads between 2.0mm and 5.0mm for the various grinding procedures.

In Summary

Mass finishing can be a too long process if you’re not aware of the right finishing media for your needs.

What would work for creating polished pieces might not have any effect on the dispersion of chemicals.

That’s why you need to talk to professionals before purchasing finishing media.

Getting the wrong one could end up ruining your pieces, which would end up costing you.

Zirconia Silicate beads are wear-resistant media that perform a variety of activities within the grinding and dispersion fields.

Therefore, purchasing them becomes affordable since they’re multipurpose media that are durable.