The Abrasives industry refers to the manufacturing of grinding wheels, discs, pads, emery and sand paper and other refining tools that are used to machine, grind, or finish a work-piece. We provide PTFE materials to two sub-sectors in the Abrasives Industry: Management of By-Products and Grinding Wheel manufacturing.
SUB-SECTOR: BY-PRODUCTS
During the production of abrasive papers, discs, and wheels, unwanted liquid by-products (resins, animal fats, etc.) are captured in trays for disposal.
TRAY LINERS FOR CONTAINMENT OF WASTE
The harmful nature of these liquids and the threat they pose as a contamination risk to ground water, they must be properly treated before being discarded. A typical treatment process involves curing in which the liquid by-products are contained in curing trays and then baked from liquid to solid form. The curing trays are lined with PTFE coated fiberglass fabric to withstand exposure to chemicals and heat. After curing, the PTFE fabric releases cleanly from the cured by-product. The now-solid waste matter can now be disposed of through garbage collection.
SUB-SECTOR: MANUFACUTRING OF ABRASIVE GRINDING WHEELS
Grinding wheels are comprised of very coarse grit particles that are bonded together in a circular shape. When attached to motorized tools such as bench-grinders and hand-held grinders and finishing tools, they are spun at varying speeds to sharpen, polish, grind or create smooth edges and surfaces on metal and other hard materials.
NON-STICK RELEASE SHEETS
The process of manufacturing grinding wheels begins with the formation of a ‘log’ from a mixture of abrasive grits and resin. Each log or tube is actually comprised of several discs being formed simultaneously but separated with pre-cut PTFE fabric separators. After the log is cured in a high temperature oven, the individual grinding wheels can be separated from each other because of the PTFE fabric separators in between. The clean release properties of the PTFE coating and the strength of the fiberglass substrate allow for clean, reliable separation. The diameters of the die cut separators vary depending on the size of the end product.