Difference between Natural and Synthetic Abrasives

Difference between Natural and Synthetic Abrasives Points : Difference between Natural and Synthetic Abrasives, Natural Abrasives, 2. Synthetic/Manufactured Artificial Abrasives 1. Natural Abrasives Natural abrasives generally are minerals which come from nature. They occur either in the form of grains, like sand or in the form of large rocklike chunks. The large chunks must be ground or crushed into small abrasive grains. Emery and corundum are two natural abrasives which were commonly used in industry for the purposes of sharpening edged tools. They occur .as mineral deposit in the earth’s crust. These abrasives formed into wheels, were superior to the old grindstones in that they were capable of faster cutting and could be made coarser or fine. Inspite of this, they could not meet the demands of industry because they contained impurities which were difficult to extract and because the percentage of important cutting elements, aluminum oxide, was not constant. The only other element known to be harder than emery or corundum is the diamond, but its cost was prohibitive for industrial usage. 2. Synthetic/Manufactured Artificial Abrasives The artificial man-made abrasives are also called as synthetic or manufactured abrasives With the exception of diamond, artificial or synthetic abrasives are harder thin the natural abrasives. Diamond is the hardest abrasive material.
About the same time that Dr. Acheson Was experimentally producing Silicon Carbide, Charles P. Jacobs was attempting to produce a better grade of emery. He used a small electric furnace to extract the impurities of sand, iron, and titanium oxides from clay deposits rich in aluminum oxide. The result was a product that consisted of about 95percnt pure Aluminum Oxide (chemical symbol A1203).