Abrasive Grain and Finishing Media Specifications

Help with Abrasive Grain and Finishing Media specifications:

Applications

	Applications:
	Your choices are...
	Abrasive Jet Cutting		Abrasive water jets cut sheet materials or remove materials from a surface by generating a focused stream of fluid mixed with abrasive particles. Garnet grain is widely applied as the abrasive media in abrasive water jet cutting. Air abrasive jet cutters are employed in cutting softer materials or micro-cutting applications. Precision air abrasive blasters or micro-jets produce extremely fine and precise streams. They are used for drilling, detailing, and precision cutting of printed circuit boards and other high quality components. The abrasive grains most commonly used in air systems are aluminum oxide or silicon carbide.
	Blasting		Abrasive blast machines and sandblasters clean and prepare surfaces by directing a stream of abrasive particles against a part or a surface. Blast wheels, pressurized water, or compressed air drive the abrasive or blasting media. Blasting is used for finishing, surface texturing, roughening, frosting / etching, degreasing, deburring, deflashing, descaling, stripping of coatings, and surface preparation of products made of metal, wood, plastic, glass or other materials. Aluminum oxide, coal slag, glass, plastic media, corncob, and nutshell are commonly used in blasting applications.
	Blending & Intermediate Cutting		Abrasive products are designed for blending or removing parting lines, seams, or other significant surface imperfections. Medium or medium fine grit products are typically used for light cutting or intermediate material removal applications.
	Burnishing		Burnishing polishes and cleans parts without the use of abrasive compounds.
	Cleaning / Surface Prep		Cleaning and surface preparation products are finishing media that are formulated for cleaning, degreasing, de-oiling, descaling, texturing, roughening, discoloration removal, and other surface preparation applications.
	Coated Abrasives		Coated abrasives contain abrasive grains held together in a matrix of resin, rubber, or other binders. They are used to remove surface materials such as metal, ceramics, glass, plastics, and paint. Coated abrasives are used in both grinding wheels and abrasive stones or sticks. Coated abrasives use several different types of abrasive grains. Aluminum oxide, the most common industrial mineral in use today, is used either individually or with other materials to form ceramic grains. Aluminum oxide is also combined with emery and crocus to produce abrasives suitable for finishing applications. Other types of abrasive grains include garnet, tungsten carbine, silicon carbide, and alumina-zirconia. Super-abrasive diamond pastes are useful in ferrous polishing or lapping applications where heat and reactivity are not a factor. Cubic boron nitride (CBN), a superabrasive grain with hardness second to diamond and a cubic crystal structure, provides superior grinding performance on carbon and alloy steel.
	Deburring / Deflashing		Abrasive products designed or suitable for removing burrs, sharp corners, part lines, and flash (deflashing).
	Descaling / Stripping		Abrasive grit or media is designed or suitable for decsaling or coating stripping applications.  http://205.153.241.230/P2_Opportunity_Handbook/section5.html
	Fast Cutting / Aggressive		Fast cutting abrasives are coarse grit products typically designed for heavy cutting or material removal applications.
	Grinding / Ball Milling		Media designed for ball milling or grinding down of bulk, powder or granular materials into finer powder forms. Typically ceramic bead, hard metal shot, carbide balls, or other ball shaped media are used. The hardness of the powder or bulk material being ground will determine the selection of the media's material. Ball milling processes can disperse or mix pigments or fillers into resins, paints, coatings, plastics, rubber, or adhesives.  Media grinding or ball milling is also used for mechanically alloying metal powders, which creates new alloys that cannot be formed through fusion processes.
	Grinding Wheels / Bonded Abrasives		Bonded abrasives contain abrasive grains held together in a matrix of glass, resin, rubber, or other binders. They are used to remove surface materials such as metal, ceramics, glass, plastics, and paint. Bonded abrasives are used in both grinding wheels and abrasive stones or sticks. Grinding wheels are used in a variety of applications and industries, while abrasive stones or sticks are used for sharpening edges and honing internal or external surfaces Grinding wheels are used for metal removal, dimensioning, and finishing. They consist of an integral shank, pin, shaft, or mandrel that drives a mounted wheel or blades. There are many types of grinding wheels, some of which are numbered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Straight wheels are simple, flat discs without any recesses, flaring, or cups. Type 5 wheels are recessed on one side. Type 7 wheels are recessed on both sides. Both flaring-cup and straight-cup wheels are commonly available. Tapered grinding wheels have a thicker cross-section at the bore. Cylindrical wheels feature a length that is equal to or greater than the thickness of the wheel. Depressed center wheels exclude the mounting hardware from the grinding process. Dish wheels often contain superabrasives.
	Peening		Peening shot and beads consists of small metal balls or glass beads. Peening shot is used impart compressive stresses into the surface of part as well as deburr sharp edges without removing material. Induced compressive stress improves fatigue strength.
	Polishing / Lapping		Finer abrasive grains are designed or suitable for precision surfacing applications such as polishing, honing, lapping, color buffing, brightening, or other high surface smoothness finishing applications. The fine abrasive grit is incorporated in finishing compounds, coated abrasive lapping films, superfinishing bonded abrasive products, and/or polishing compounds. Polishing compounds, pastes, or creams contain very fine abrasives as well as waxes or oils. Polishing compounds produce highly lustrous, bright and buffed surfaces. Specialized non-abrasive chemical agents are also available for electropolishing or chemical polishing processes. Color buffing produces a bright lustrous or polished surface.
	Tumbling / Mass Finishing		Tumbling and mass finishing media is used to deburr, burnish, color, descale, polish, or clean parts and components during finishing processes. Tumbling and mass finishing media involve choosing finishing shapes and media for particular tasks. Finishing shapes include balls, cones, ballcones, wedges, pins, tapers, cylinders, cut wire, diagonals, angle cuts, diamonds, cubes, oval balls, eclipses or balls with flats, crushed grit, pyramids, triangles, and stars or tristars. Finishing media consists of metal, ceramic, plastic, natural, wood, nutshell, corncob, carbonate, mineral, and synthetic materials.
	Specialty / Other		Specialty, proprietary, patented or other unlisted blasting, finishing, grinding and abrasive application
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	Waterproof / Wet?		Waterproof abrasive products designed or suitable for wet finishing using a water or water-oil coolant mixture.
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Type / Shape

	Your choices are...
	Abrasive Grain / Grit		Abrasive grain or grit consists of smaller, sharp particles of hard materials, minerals, ceramics, carbides, or fused oxides. Most abrasive grains or grits have crushed irregular shapes, but a few abrasive grains are available with regular rod or platelet shapes such as precipitated alumina or extruded sol-gel abrasives.  Abrasive grains are typically sized or graded using a series of mesh sieves with specific percentage ranges for each screen depending on grit size.
	Shaped Media		Shaped media includes coarse regular shapes for mass finishing, tumbling, blasting, and ball grinding applications. Finishing media types or shapes include steel shot, cut wire, triangles, pyramids, cones
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	Shape
	Your choices are...
	Balls / Beads (Spherical)		Media is a bead, ball, or spherical shape.
	Ballcones / Satellites		Ballcone or satellite media has a shape that is a combination of a ball and cone, or a ball combined donut or toroid. The term "satellite" is used because the media looks like a flying saucer, satellite, or top. Ceramic or carbide satellites have the appearance of a very short, stubby cylinder with two hemispheres on each end.
	Cones		Media has a cone shape.
	Crushed / Irregular		Abrasive grit, nugget, or media has a crushed or irregular shape.  Typically, the irregular or crushed shapes are very angular with sharp edges for abrading, cutting, or grinding. Aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, nutshell, glass, and mineral abrasives or grit typically have a crushed shape.
	Cubes / Rectangular		Media has a peg, cube, or rectangular shape.
	Cylinders / Cylindrical		Media has a cylinder, flat-ended pin or other cylindrical shape.
	Diamonds		Media has a diamond or diagonal shape.
	Ovals / Ellipses		Media has an oval or ellipse shape.
	Pins (Tapers / Slims)		Media in the form of a taper, slim, pin, or other pointed media shape.
	Pyramids / Tetrahedrons		Media has a pyramid or tetrahedron shape.
	Shot - Cut Wire		Shot can consist of round, cut wire or irregular shapes. Shot usually consists of steel, stainless steel, or other metals.
	Shot - Cast		Shot can consist of cast round shapes. Cast shot usually consists of steel, stainless steel, cast iron, or other metals. A range of sizes or diameters may occur during the atomization or droplet formation process. Cast shot may not be perfectly round unless conditioned - SAE specification allow up to 5% of the shot to be elongated, 10% with voids, 10% with shrinkage, and 5% with cracks.
	Stars / Tristars		Media has a star or tristar shape.
	Triangles		Media has a triangular shape.
	TriCyl (Cylindrical Wedge)		Tri-cyls, tricyls, or cylindrical wedges are cylinders with opposing angle cuts or cuts. The resulting tricyl media shape has two smaller edges to finish smaller recesses and a larger edge for larger recesses.
	Wedges		Media in the form of wedges or a wedge-shape where one end tapers to a sharp axe-like edge. Typically wedges have a triangular or axe-head shape.
	Specialty / Other		Specialty, proprietary, patented or unlisted media shape.
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	Angle Cut / Diagonal?		Cylinder or shaped media is cut at an angle such as 45º angle cut cylinders or 22º angle cut triangles. The "angle cut" shape provides a sharper or narrower edge that can finish an inside corner or recess. The ceramic media made be formed or molded into the shape, not physically "cut". Metal diagonals are angle cut metal pins or cylinders, which are usually have their edges rounded or conditioned.
	Search Logic:		"Required" and "Must Not Have" criteria limit returned matches as specified. Products with optional attributes will be returned for either choice.
	Conditioned / Rounded?		The shot or media are pre-conditioned or rounded to radius or round off any sharp edges or corners that would otherwise scratch or mar the parts. Cut wire shot is normally conditioned before use as peening media.
	Search Logic:		"Required" and "Must Not Have" criteria limit returned matches as specified. Products with optional attributes will be returned for either choice.
	Bulk Density:		Bulk density is the mass per unit area for a material taking into account internal porosity.  The bulk density is dependent on the theoretical density of 100% dense body and the actual level of porosity between abrasive or media particles.  Tap density and loose pack density are two types of bulk density used to understand particle shape, interparticle friction and flowability.  Loose packed density (LPD) or aerated density is the density of the powder or particulate body without any settlement, mechanical agitation, vibration, or tapping. Usually, loose packed density measurements are made by determining the mass of powder in a sample container of known volume. Tap or packed density is the density of the powder or particulate body after settlement from tapping, mechanical agitation, vibration, or light packing (not compaction or consolidation). Often, both loose packed and tap density measurements are made to determine the Hausner ratio, which is calculated by dividing the loose-packed density by the tap density. Carr index is also related to loose packed and tap densities. The Carr index and Hausner ratio provide an indication of flowability.
	Search Logic:		User may specify either, both, or neither of the "At Least" and "No More Than" values. Products returned as matches will meet all specified criteria.

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Media Size

	Media Dimension A / Diameter:		Media size specified by dimension A or diameter.
	Search Logic:		User may specify either, both, or neither of the "At Least" and "No More Than" values. Products returned as matches will meet all specified criteria.
	Media Dimension B:		Media size specified by dimension B.
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Size / Grading

	Grit Grade / Shot Size:		Applies to products using abrasive grains held in a matrix or bonded to a surface such as coated abrasives, MSL superabrasives, vitrified grinding wheels, dressing sticks, honing stones or grit dressers. Grit sizes are based on ANSI, FEPA, JIS, or proprietary grading system standards. Grading system standards define a grit size through specified upper and lower limits at certain points in the size distribution.
	Search Logic:		User may specify either, both, or neither of the "At Least" and "No More Than" values. Products returned as matches will meet all specified criteria.
	Grading System (Grit / Shot):
	Your choices are...
	ANSI - Bonded		American or U.S. grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains used in bonded abrasives or grinding wheels.
	ANSI - CAMI / Coated		U.S. grit size standards for abrasive grains used in coated abrasives, grinding belts or sanding discs.
	FEPA - F		European grading or grit size standards for abrasive grains used in bonded abrasives or grinding wheels.
	FEPA - P		European grit size standards for abrasive grains used in coated abrasives, grinding belts or sanding discs.
	JIS		Japanese grit size standards for abrasive grains.
	Mesh Graded		Grain or media graded to specific mesh sizes. Mesh size is determined by the number of wires per unit length. A higher mesh number indicates a smaller opening or fine particle. ASTM E-11 Standard (American Society for Testing Materials).  This is the standard most widely used in North America. The opening is defined by a number (number 635 (20 µm) to number 3-1/2 (5.6 mm)) or is defined in inches (1/4 in. (6.3 mm) to 5 in. (125 mm)). ISO 3310-1 Standard (International Standards Organization).  This is the standard used in Canada in the field of construction materials. The opening is defined in micrometers (20 µm to 37,500 µm).
	Micron Graded		Very fine abrasive grain graded to micron size ranges usually based an average particle size.
	SAE		Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standard for grit, grain, bead and shot.
	Specialty / Other		Other unlisted, proprietary, or specialized grading or grit system.
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Material / Composition

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	Aluminum		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of aluminum shot, cut aluminum wire, or cast aluminum shot.
	Aluminum Oxide		Aluminum oxide is the most common industrial mineral in use today. Fused aluminum oxide is produced synthetically by melting bauxite and an additive in an arc furnace to form a fused aluminum oxide ingots, which are later crushed and sized. Fused aluminum oxide is also produced synthetically by chemically purifying. The various types of fused aluminum oxides are distinguished by the levels of chemical impurities remaining in the fused mineral. Titanium and chromium oxides are typical additives. Other techniques to make an industrial abrasive start with treating bauxite ore with a sol gel process to create alumina that is sintered to produce with an extremely fine crystalline structure typical of the sol gel or Seeded Gel products available by Saint Gobain Abrasives. Fused aluminum oxide is available in several variations depending on composition and processing such as white (high purity), brown or regular (titanium oxide modified), and pink (chromium oxide additions). Titanium oxide additions can toughen the abrasive and enable heat-treating process, which changes brown aluminum oxide to a blue-colored grain as titania precipitates form. Aluminum oxide abrasives are also produced with chemical precursors and precipitation, calcination and/or sintering processes. Calcined or platelet alumina as used in fine grit or polishing applications. Sol-gel aluminum oxide is produced in using chemical ceramic technology, but this abrasive has very high performance and is usually referred to as Ceramic abrasive grain to distinguish the grain from lower-performing fused aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide occurs naturally in the form of the mineral corundum, but the mineral is not used as a commercial abrasive except as a component of emery.
	Alumina-Zirconia (e.g.,  Norzon®)		Alumina-zirconia abrasive grain consists of a fused alloy of aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide.  NorZon® is widely used variation proprietary to the Norton Company that consists of a fused and quenched eutectic mixture of aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide.  The resulting fine structure and higher hardness contributes to improved grinding performance on stainless steel, titanium, and other exotic metals.
	Boron Carbide		Boron carbide is a very hard abrasive, often used to make sticks for dressing other softer abrasives.
	Carbonate (Sodium / Calcium)		Abrasive grain or finishing media consists of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or calcium carbonate (Aragonite, Calcite, chalk, limestone).
	Cast Iron		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of cast iron.
	Ceramic		Ceramic and inorganic abrasives and media include aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, zirconia, silicate, fused silica, boron carbide, synthetic diamond, CBN, tin oxide, tungsten carbide, and cerium oxide.  The ceramic abrasives are dense abrasives with outstanding grinding and finishing performance on a variety of workpiece materials. Hardness of ceramic and inorganic abrasives and media varies with specific composition. Diamond, boron carbide, and CBN are among the hardest materials and are used to grind and finish very hard ceramic and alloys.
	Cerium Oxide		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of cerium oxide, which is a softer abrasive used for polishing and planarization applications.
	Chromium Oxide		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of fused chromia or chromium oxide, which has the small crystal structure as aluminum oxide with higher hardness.
	Corn Cob		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of the soft woody ring of a corncob. Corncob is a very soft and low aggressive media for blasting or coating removal. Soft metal, wooden, plastic, or composite parts can be cleaned of have coatings stripped off without damage to the underlying substrate.
	Crocus / Rouge / Iron Oxide		Abrasive grain or finishing powder consisting of crocus or rouge, which is iron oxide. Crocus or rouge is most commonly ground into a powder and used for polishing or in finishing compounds.
	Emery		Emery is a naturally occurring mineral abrasive consisting of an aluminum oxide particle in a matrix of iron oxide and other impurities.
	Garnet		Garnet is a natural silicate mineral, consisting of a combination of Almandite and Pyrope, which mined from igneous mineral deposits or in concentrated pockets of alluvial deposits of old riverbeds. Garnet has the general chemical formula of Fe2O3Al2 (SiO4)3.  The iron and aluminum are partially replaceable by calcium, magnesium, and manganese.
	Glass		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of glass. Glass is a fused silica-based material solidified into an amorphous state. Glass fractures into shapes produce very sharp edges; however, the edges may not be as hard or durable compared to crystalline minerals or synthetic aluminum or silicon abrasives.
	Hardwood		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of hardwood material.
	Magnetite / Iron Oxide		Abrasive grain or media composed of magnetite, which is a natural iron oxide mineral.
	Mineral		Abrasive grain or finishing media consists of mineral-based material. Garnet, pumice, emery, croups, rouge, as pumice, carborundum, natural diamond, staurolite, novaculite, and some forms of silica or silicate minerals are examples of mineral abrasives and media.
	Kieserite / Sulphate		Kieserite is a magnesium sulphate mineral. Sulfate minerals such as Kieserite are softer and water-soluble, providing performance similar to sodium bicarbonate or baking soda blast media.
	Olivine		Olivine abrasives consist of a magnesium, iron, and silicate mineral. Olivine abrasives are widely used for blasting and waterjet cutting applications in Europe and Asia. Olivine is similar to or slightly better than slag abrasives and sand, but inferior to garnet in most applications. Olivine is dustier than garnet and tends to fracture more easily.
	Organic Material		Organic media and abrasives include corn cob, wheat starch, hardwood, peach pit, fruit pit, walnut shell, coconut shell, and other nut shells.
	Metal		Metal abrasives and media includes metal shots or balls, cut wire, crushed metal grit, or shaped media for blasting, ball burnishing, peening, mass finishing (vibratory or tumbling), deburring, bonded wheels, coated abrasives, or other applications. Steel, stainless steel, cast iron, aluminum and zinc are commonly used alloys.
	Plastic		Abrasive grain or finishing media consists of plastic material. Both thermoplastic and thermoset resins are used to produce plastic media and plastic grit.  Thermoset resins are more resistant to softener or heat damage.
	Porcelain		Porcelain materials are used for both useful industrial and ornamental applications. Traditional porcelain is made from a mixture of feldspar, clay (koalin), and flint. Porcelains can be aluminum silicate, magnesium silicate, or aluminum magnesium silicate-based - depending on the raw materials or minerals selected.
	Pumice		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of pumice. Pumice is a silica-based, volcanic (pyroclastic igneous) rock with a very porous structure. Pumice is used block form for sharpening or cleaning.  Pumice is also ground into a powder for polishing and cleaning applications.
	Silica / Silicate		Abrasive grain or finishing media based on silicon dioxide or silica. Fumed silica is often used in semiconductor or silicon-wafer polishing and planarization applications. A pure silica CMP compound does not impart poisons or impurities into the wafer fab process. Typically, fumed or amorphous silica abrasives are chosen because crystalline silica is considered carcinogenic. Silica and silicate materials include fused silica, quartz, koalin or clay based materials, cordierite, steatite, forsterite, sillimanite, zircon, porcelain, and fireclay.
	Silicon Carbide		Silicon carbide (SiC) is a synthetic abrasive first developed in the late 1800s. SiC is harder than aluminum oxide, but more friable than fused aluminum oxide grains. Silicon carbide is typically applied to nonferrous applications (brass, aluminum, titanium).  The high solubility of carbon and silicon in iron would result in a reaction of silicon carbide with the iron base alloy and poor grinding performance.  Levels and types of impurities distinguish the green and black forms of silicon carbide. The sharp and easily fractured abrasive grain is used for abrading other non-metals such as the stone, glass, wood, and leather. SiC, like diamond, is susceptible to oxidation at higher temperatures.
	Slag / Coal Slag		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of slag residues from coal burning processes.
	Sol-gel Ceramic		Sol-gel ceramic abrasives typically consist of aluminum oxide with or without additional modifiers produced using a sol-gel and sintering process. The ceramic processing route results in a hard, dense abrasive with an extremely fine crystal size and outstanding grinding performance on a variety of workpiece materials.
	Sponge / Foam		Abrasive grain or blasting media consisting of abrasive grit in a larger polyurethane sponge or foam particles. Sponge or foam blasting media is often used wet and can absorb liquids during the blasting process.
	Stainless Steel		Stainless steel media is often in the form of stainless steel shot, stainless steel peening balls, or cut stainless steel wire. Crush stainless steel alloy grit is a less common form.
	Staurolite		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of staurolite mineral. Staurolite is an aluminum iron silicate mineral. Staurolite abrasives exhibit high hardness, low dusting, and low embedment.
	Steel		Steel media is often in the form of steel shot, steel peening balls, or cut steel wire. Crush steel alloy grit is a less common form.
	Superabrasive - CBN		Cubic boron nitride (CBN) is superabrasive grain with hardness second to diamond and a cubic crystal structure. CBN provides super grinding performance on carbon and alloy steel.  Diamond is not useful in grinding steel or ferrous alloys because carbon and diamond readily dissolves or reacts with iron.  CBN is produced synthetically in a high temperature, high-pressure process.
	Superabrasive - Diamond		Synthetic diamond is produced in a high temperature, high pressure process anvil press. Diamond is superabrasive grain with the highest known hardness and a cubic crystal structure. Diamond is used for grinding nonferrous metals, ceramics, glass, stone, and building materials. Diamond is not useful in grinding steel or ferrous alloys because carbon or diamond readily dissolves or reacts with iron.  Diamond pastes are useful in ferrous polishing or lapping applications where heat and reactivity are not a factor. Diamond is susceptible to oxidation at higher temperatures
	Synthetic		Abrasive grain or finishing media made of a synthetic or fabricated material consisting of a polymer matrix highly filled with silica or alumina. Filler synthetic media has a lower weight compared to ceramic media with lower hardness. Synthetic media has higher hardness and aggressiveness compared to plastic media.
	Tin Oxide		Abrasive grain or finishing media consists of a stannous oxide (tin oxide) material. Tin oxide is a safer abrasive used for polishing glass.
	Tripoli		Abrasive grain or finishing powder consists of a natural silicate or siliceous limestone mineral called tripoli or rottenstone. Tripoli is most commonly ground into a powder and used for polishing or in finishing compounds.
	Type I (Polyester)		Type I plastic abrasives are based on a thermoset polyester resin. Types I have a hardness of about 3.0 Moh. These plastic abrasives are generally used for removing paints from soft aluminum or copper.
	Type II (Urea)		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of urea thermoset plastic resin. Urea thermoset resins tend to be harder (3.5 MOH Hardness), are more resistant to softening, and are more aggressive compared to acrylic or polyester types. Urea or type II plastic abrasives are the most commonly used type. Urea type II abrasives are the fastest media for coating or paint stripping on aircraft, trucks, trailers, tractors, rail cars, vans, motor homes, marine vessels, cars, buses. The U.S. Air Force has approved this plastic abrasive for use in stripping coatings, paints, surface sealants, or powder coatings from airframes, aircraft engine components, automobiles, buses, and truck bodies. They are also useful for mold cleaning.
	Type III (Melamine)		Abrasive grain or finishing media consists of melamine or type III thermoset plastic resin. Melamine thermoset resins are the hardest plastic abrasives used  for providing the fastest and most aggressive plastic blasting abrasive available.  Melamine type III plastic abrasives are aggressive enough to replaces glass beads and other harsh abrasives in certain applications.  Melamine type III plastic abrasives are useful in cleaning and stripping difficult-to-remove paints, residues and primers from hard materials such as engine parts, turbine blades, molds, metal die castings, steel gears, tire molds, axial lead diodes, capacitors, clear optical sensors, computer housing panels, copper armature wires, and actuator assemblies.
	Type IV (Phenolic)		Type IV plastic abrasives consist of a phenolic or phenol formaldehyde resin composition. Phenolic is a thermoset plastic. Types IV and V have higher hardness (3.5 Moh hardness) and are useful in removing coatings and paint from hard aluminum and steel. Type IV plastic media is not widely used or available compared to other plastic abrasive types.
	Type V (Acrylic)		Type V plastic abrasives are based on acrylic thermoplastic composition with a hardest range (3.2-3.5 MOH Hardness), lower than urea (Type II) and melamine (Type III) plastic abrasives. While not the most aggressive type, acrylic type V plastic blasting abrasives are the most durable or longest lasting type. Type V acrylic blasting media is more forgiving compared to other plastic media types. Type V acrylic blasting media applications include paint stripping of aircraft structures, trucks, trailers, tractors, rail cars, vans, motor homes, marine vessels, cars, and buses, airframes, aircraft components, fiberglass components, aluminum and magnesium parts, carbon graphite composites, axial lead diodes, capacitors, clear optical sensors, computer housing panels, copper armature wires, die castings, and actuator assemblies. Acrylic is a thermoplastic resin. Thermoplastic resins are softer and gentler on a surface, which may limit substrate damage during coating removal or paint stripping. Thermoplastics can be remolded and recycled more easily.
	Type VI (e.g., Clear-Cut®)		Type VI plastic abrasives are based on a polyallyl diglycol carbonate thermoset resin. Clear-Cut® plastic stripping abrasives are well known examples of Type VI materials. Clear-Cut®  is registered trade mark of Composition Materials Co., Inc.
	Type VII (Biodegradable)		Type VII plastic blasting media has the lowest hardness (2.0-2.8 Moh hardness). These very soft abrasives are used on surfaces such as fiberglass and soft metals. Type VII plastic abrasives are composed of a nonpetroleum amylaceous polymer, which biodegrades when released into the environment.
	Tungsten Carbide / Hard Metal		Crushed tungsten carbide grit is utilized in metal bonded products for abrasion of tough materials such as composites, fiberglass, reinforced plastics, rubber, and other specialized materials.
	Walnut / Nut Shell		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of walnut, pecan, coconut, or other nut shell materials.
	Wheat Starch		Wheat starch is a very soft and low aggressive media for blasting or coating removal. Soft metal, wooden, plastic, or composite parts can be cleaned of have coatings stripped off without damage to the underlying substrate. Wheat starch is an organic material that will decompose naturally. http://205.153.241.230/P2_Opportunity_Handbook/5_7.html
	Zinc		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of zinc shot, cut zinc wire, or cast zinc shot.
	Zircon		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of zircon or zirconium silicate material. Zircon is naturally occurring mineral and mineral sand.
	Zirconia		Abrasive grain or finishing media consisting of zirconium oxide material. Zirconia is a very tough and wear resistant ceramic.
	Specialty / Other		Other specialty, proprietary or patented abrasive grain, grit or abrasive material.
	Search Logic:		All products with ANY of the selected attributes will be returned as matches. Leaving all boxes unchecked will not limit the search criteria for this question; products with all attribute options will be returned as matches.
	Aggregate?		Aggregates consist of a mixture of abrasive particles and bond crushed or formed into a uniform size. Aggregates provide a longer life with a slightly coarser finish.
	Search Logic:		"Required" and "Must Not Have" criteria limit returned matches as specified. Products with optional attributes will be returned for either choice.

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