abrasive
[ə′brās·əv] (geology)
A small, hard, sharp-cornered rock fragment, used by natural agents in abrading rock material or land surfaces. Also known as abrasive ground.
(materials)
A material used, usually as a grit sieved by a specified mesh but also as a solid shape or as a paste or slurry or air suspension, for grinding, honing, lapping, superfinishing, polishing, pressure blasting, or barrel tumbling.
A material sintered or formed into a solid mass such as a hone or a wheel disk, cone, or burr for grinding or polishing other materials.
Having qualities conducive to or derived from abrasion. Also known as abradant.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Abrasive
A material of extreme hardness that is used to shape other materials by a grinding or abrading action. Abrasive materials may be used either as loose grains, as grinding wheels, or as coatings on cloth or paper. They may be formed into ceramic cutting tools that are used for machining metal in the same way that ordinary machine tools are used. Because of their superior hardness and refractory properties, they have advantages in speed of operation, depth of cut, and smoothness of finish.
Abrasive products are used for cleaning and machining all types of metal, for grinding and polishing glass, for grinding logs to paper pulp, for cutting metals, glass, and cement, and for manufacturing many miscellaneous products such as brake linings and nonslip floor tile.
The important natural abrasives are diamond, corundum, emery, garnet, feldspar, calcined clay, lime, chalk, and silica, SiO2, in its many forms—sandstone, sand, flint, and diatomite.
The synthetic abrasive materials are silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, titanium carbide, and boron carbide. The synthesis of diamond puts this material in the category of manufactured abrasives.
McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Engineering. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
abrasive
A hard substance for removing material by grinding, lapping, honing, and polishing. Common abrasives include silicon carbide, boron carbide, diamond, emery, garnet, quartz, tripoli, pumice, diatomite, metal shot, grit, and various sands; usually adhered to paper or cloth.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.