Quartz sand is an important raw material for nearly 100 kinds of industrial products, such as glass, electronics and electrical appliances, optical fiber semiconductors, water treatment, mechanical casting, artificial quartz stone, daily ceramics, metallurgy, superhard materials, chemical industry, cement, functional fillers, oil drilling and so on.
The quality requirements of quartz products are also different in different industrial applications. In this article, we will learn how quartz sand is used in 10 different industrial fields:
Table of Contents
1. Glass Industry
Quartz is the main raw material of glass industry, and its quality requirements lay in 3 aspects: chemical composition, stability and particle size.
Quartz Sand For Flat Glass
Level
Component %
Particle Size %
1+
SiO?
Al?O?
Fe?O?
+1mm
800njm
710njm
500njm
-100njm
98.50.20
1.00.10
0.050.01
0.5
0
0.5
5.5
5.0
1
98.00.25
0.10
/
/
10.0
10.0
2
96.00.30
2.00.15
0.20
20.0
3
92.00.30
4.50.20
0.25
25.0
4
90.00.30
5.50.30
0.33
30.0
2. Electronic & Electrical Industries
In the electronic and electrical industry, quartz powder (silicon powder) is an important functional filler for epoxy resin castables, filling materials, plastic sealing materials, packaging materials, engineering plastics, coatings, silicone rubber and electrode protective coatings. At present, the highest filling rate of spherical silicon powder in EMC has reached > 90%.
Silicon Powder For Electronic Industry
Type
Silicon
Active Silicon
Electrical Silicon
Active Electrical Silicon
Moisture / %
0.10
Density (103kg/m3)
2.650.05
Component
Burning Vector
0.20
0.15
SiO?
99.40
99.60
Fe?O?
0.030
0.020
Al?O?
0.20
0.15
Hydrophobicity / min
–
30
–
45
3. High-end Quartz Material Industry
High-purity quartz sand is an important raw material for producing high-purity quartz tubes, quartz rods, quartz bars, quartz plates, quartz crucibles and other high-end quartz products. Optical communications, semiconductors, special materials usually require the purity of quartz sand > 99.998%, the impurities content < 22ppm, and the single alkali metals (potassium, sodium, lithium) content is less than 1ppm.
Type
Requirement
Appearance
white particles with certain transparency, without any color difference
Particle Size
in the range of 70-350 njm
SiO / %
99.99%, on ignition loss 0.01%
4. Water Treatment Industry
Quartz Filter: Quartz sand filter material is made of natural quartz ore as raw material and processed by crushing, washing, screening and other processes. it is the most widely used water purification material in water treatment industry
Quartz sand is the earliest and widely used filter material for wastewater treatment. The particle size and thickness of quartz sand filter media play an important role in the filtration performance.
Quartz Sand Filter Media
Type
Requirement
SiO? Content
85%
Physical Properties
Solid, durable, compact
Density
2.5-2.7g/cm3
Mud Content
<1%
Burning Vector
0.7%
Particle Size
0.5-1.2mm
5. Mechanical Foundry
In foundry casting process, silica sand (quartz sand) is the most widely used and largest amount of foundry sand. According to the different mining and processing methods, it can be divided into natural silica sand and artificial silica sand, such as water washed sand and scrubbed sand etc.
Casting Sand: The quality of silica sand directly affects the quality of castings, production efficiency and enterprise cost
Silicon Sand For Casting
Granularity
Fine Powder Conten t/ %
Scrub Sand
Washing Sand
Artificial Sand
30/50
0.1
0.5
0.5
40/70
0.1
1.0
1.0
50/100
0.4
3.0
1.5
70/140
0.7
3.5
2.0
100/200
8.0
10.0
10.0
6. Artificial Quartz Stone Plate
Artificial quartz is composed of more than 90% natural quartz sand (powder) of aggregate, about 10% of pigments, resins and other additives that regulate adhesion and curing, etc. Such as vein ore quartz, sand (rock) ore quartz and weathered quartzs all can be used as raw materials for artificial quartz.
Quartz Sand For Artificial Quartz Stone
Type
Requirement
Appearance
The color is uniform, the miscellaneous particles < 2%, there is no dust, and the particles are clean
Shape
The higher the sphericity, the better
Particle Size
Match according to demand
Whiteness
Quartz sand is not required, quartz powder > 90
Moisture
Moisture < 0.5%
7. Domestic Ceramics
As the raw material of ceramics, quartz has non-plasticity. Quartz transformed into mullite crystals under high temperature and makes porcelain has high mechanical strength and chemical stability. Quartz can increase the translucency of the green body, so it is a good raw material for preparing white glaze.
Ceramics: The main raw materials of ceramics are high purity quartz sand, which can be used in glazes, blanks, daily ceramics, sanitary ware, household decoration tiles, floor tiles, quartz kitchen countertops, cabinets, etc.
Quartz Sand For Ceramics
Type
Grade
Chemical Composition
SiO?
Fe?O? + TiO?
TiO?
Block Quartz
1
99
0.08
0.02
2
98
0.15
0.03
3
96
0.25
0.05
Quartz Sand
1
98
0.10
0.03
2
97
0.20
0.05
3
95
0.40
0.10
8. Metallurgical Industry
In the metallurgical industry, quartz can be used to make refractories (silica brick), smelting siliceous alloys (ferrosilicon, silicomanganese, silicochromium) or as fluxes. Those with high silica content can be used as raw materials for industrial silicon production.
Ferrosilicon: Ferrosilicon is an iron-silicon alloy made from coke, steel shavings, quartz (or silica) and smelted in an electric furnace
Silica For Refractories
Type
Chemical Composition
Fire Resistance
(CN)
SiO?
Al?O?
Fe?O?
CaO
GSN99A
99.0
0.25
0.5
0.15
174
GSN99B
99.0
0.30
0.5
0.15
174
GSN98
98.0
0.50
0.8
0.20
174
GSN97
97.0
1.00
1.0
0.30
172
GSN96
96.0
1.30
1.3
0.40
170
9. Super Hard Material
Industrial silicon carbide is divided into black silicon carbide and green silicon carbide. Black silicon carbide is made by high temperature smelting in resistance furnace with quartz sand, petroleum coke and high quality silica as the main raw materials. Green silicon carbide is made by high temperature smelting in resistance furnace with petroleum coke and high quality silica as main raw materials and salt as additive.
Green Silicon Carbide
Granularity / mm
> 4.5
> 3.5
3.5 1.0
1.0-0.5
< 0.5
Color
Content / %
0
< 2
> 85
<13
0
White
translucent
Chemical Element
SiO?
FeO+Al?O?+CaO+MgO
Burning vector
Content/%
> 99.4
< 0.3
< 0.3
Black Silicon Carbide
Granularity / mm
> 3
3-1.5
1.5-1.0
1.0-0.5
< 0.5
Color
Content / %
0
65
35
< 5
0
White
or
grayish
white
Chemical Element
SiO?
FeO+Al?O?+CaO+MgO
Burning vector
Content / %
> 99.3
< 0.35
< 0.35
10. Chemical Industry
In the field of chemical products processing, quartz sand is the main raw material for the production of potassium silicate, sodium silicate and various forms of silicon dioxide.
Sodium Silicate: Sodium Silicate is a colorless, slightly colored translucent or transparent bulk vitreous body, used as fillers, fabric fireproofing agents and adhesives, etc.
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Quartz Sand Applications in 10 Different Industrial Fields
Quartz sand is an important raw material for nearly 100 kinds of industrial products, such as glass, electronics and electrical appliances, optical fiber semiconductors, water treatment, mechanical casting, artificial quartz stone, daily ceramics, metallurgy, superhard materials, chemical industry, cement, functional fillers, oil drilling and so on.
The quality requirements of quartz products are also different in different industrial applications. In this article, we will learn how quartz sand is used in 10 different industrial fields:
Table of Contents
1. Glass Industry
Quartz is the main raw material of glass industry, and its quality requirements lay in 3 aspects: chemical composition, stability and particle size.
2. Electronic & Electrical Industries
In the electronic and electrical industry, quartz powder (silicon powder) is an important functional filler for epoxy resin castables, filling materials, plastic sealing materials, packaging materials, engineering plastics, coatings, silicone rubber and electrode protective coatings. At present, the highest filling rate of spherical silicon powder in EMC has reached > 90%.
3. High-end Quartz Material Industry
High-purity quartz sand is an important raw material for producing high-purity quartz tubes, quartz rods, quartz bars, quartz plates, quartz crucibles and other high-end quartz products. Optical communications, semiconductors, special materials usually require the purity of quartz sand > 99.998%, the impurities content < 22ppm, and the single alkali metals (potassium, sodium, lithium) content is less than 1ppm.
4. Water Treatment Industry
Quartz Filter: Quartz sand filter material is made of natural quartz ore as raw material and processed by crushing, washing, screening and other processes. it is the most widely used water purification material in water treatment industry
Quartz sand is the earliest and widely used filter material for wastewater treatment. The particle size and thickness of quartz sand filter media play an important role in the filtration performance.
5. Mechanical Foundry
In foundry casting process, silica sand (quartz sand) is the most widely used and largest amount of foundry sand. According to the different mining and processing methods, it can be divided into natural silica sand and artificial silica sand, such as water washed sand and scrubbed sand etc.
Casting Sand: The quality of silica sand directly affects the quality of castings, production efficiency and enterprise cost
6. Artificial Quartz Stone Plate
Artificial quartz is composed of more than 90% natural quartz sand (powder) of aggregate, about 10% of pigments, resins and other additives that regulate adhesion and curing, etc. Such as vein ore quartz, sand (rock) ore quartz and weathered quartzs all can be used as raw materials for artificial quartz.
7. Domestic Ceramics
As the raw material of ceramics, quartz has non-plasticity. Quartz transformed into mullite crystals under high temperature and makes porcelain has high mechanical strength and chemical stability. Quartz can increase the translucency of the green body, so it is a good raw material for preparing white glaze.
Ceramics: The main raw materials of ceramics are high purity quartz sand, which can be used in glazes, blanks, daily ceramics, sanitary ware, household decoration tiles, floor tiles, quartz kitchen countertops, cabinets, etc.
8. Metallurgical Industry
In the metallurgical industry, quartz can be used to make refractories (silica brick), smelting siliceous alloys (ferrosilicon, silicomanganese, silicochromium) or as fluxes. Those with high silica content can be used as raw materials for industrial silicon production.
Ferrosilicon: Ferrosilicon is an iron-silicon alloy made from coke, steel shavings, quartz (or silica) and smelted in an electric furnace
(CN)
9. Super Hard Material
Industrial silicon carbide is divided into black silicon carbide and green silicon carbide. Black silicon carbide is made by high temperature smelting in resistance furnace with quartz sand, petroleum coke and high quality silica as the main raw materials. Green silicon carbide is made by high temperature smelting in resistance furnace with petroleum coke and high quality silica as main raw materials and salt as additive.
translucent
or
grayish
white
10. Chemical Industry
In the field of chemical products processing, quartz sand is the main raw material for the production of potassium silicate, sodium silicate and various forms of silicon dioxide.
Sodium Silicate: Sodium Silicate is a colorless, slightly colored translucent or transparent bulk vitreous body, used as fillers, fabric fireproofing agents and adhesives, etc.