ICT’s wide range of coated abrasives comprises of abrasive sheets, rolls, belts, fiber discs, flap discs, PSA, hook ‘n loop, quick change discs, double sided discs, cartridge rolls, shaft mounted flap wheels and flap wheels.
A coated abrasive is composed of three primary raw materials: abrasive grains, backing and bonding agent. The abrasive grains are primarily attached to a backing by means of a bonding agent. Coated abrasives are primarily used for heavy stock removal, grinding, de-burring, blending, cleaning, polishing and finishing operations.
Backing materials form the base of coated abrasives and anchor the abrasive grains with bonding agent. The various backings used in the manufacture of coated abrasives are as follows: paper, cloth, vulcanized fiber and polyester film.
Paper backings vary from A-weight (lightest, most flexible) to F-weight (heaviest, least flexible). Some specialty products include latex treated paper for flexibility and tear resistance. Paper backings are available with us in the forms of abrasive sheets, rolls, belts, hook ‘n loop, double side discs and plain discs.
The cloth backings undergo a series of treatments to impart flexibility, stiffness and other caracteristics depending on the application. ICT’s range of cloth backings are carefully chosen right from the weaving to processing, making them highly suitable for every application. Cloth backings are primarily classified by weight and yarn constructions and are available in cotton, polycotton and polyester.
Vulcanized fiber backings are primarily used for the manufacture of jumbo based fiber discs, IDC based fiber discs and quick change discs. Fiber backings are available in more variants (which are chosen depending on the end application), from 0.95 mm – typically used for heavy stock removal requirements – to 0.60 mm – used in finishing operations.
The maker coat plays a crucial role of anchoring the abrasive grain to the backing firmly. The primarily used bonding agents are glue, semi-synthetic resin and synthetic resin which are chosen depending on the end application. Synthetic resins are used for heavy grinding operations and glue bond is preferred for hand sanding operations.
Abrasive grains perform the material removal action supported by the backing and the bonding agent. Abrasive grains used in ICT’s coated abrasives are classified into 2 major variants:
- Natural abrasive grains (emery, garnet, flint);
- Synthetic abrasive grains (eco aluminium oxide, brown aluminium oxide, white aluminium oxide, premium aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, zirconia alumina, ceramic aluminium oxide).
Sizer coating is a special process during which the bonding agent polymerizes along with the maker coat thereby reinforcing the abrasive grains for grinding operation. Special products for wood application incorporate anti-static material to prevent clogging.
Top coating is applied over the sizer coat to impart special features to coated abrasives, mainly to prevent clogging by reducing friction (so increasing the life of the product) and temperature increase (so increasing material removal).
ICT’s abrasive sheets are specially designed for particular work piece and mode of operation and are available for wet and dry sanding operations. The products are supplied in cloth or paper backing for recommended application. We do also offer sheets and strips in wide range of designs with hole patterns for dust extraction.
Paper and cloth backed rolls find extensive use in cleaning, de-rusting and finishing various types of material. These rolls are manufactured using either emery, aluminium oxide, silicon carbide grains with specially formulated resins and compatible backing suited for optimum performance in wood, leather, plastic, metal, rubber and glass industries. Coated abrasive rolls are designed for fast and easy sanding of various surfaces and can be torn to exact lengths as needed.
ICT offers coated abrasives belts suitable for all sanding and grinding operations in wide range of sizes on cloth and paper backings. Special designs for customized applications (e.g. in metal working and wood working) are available. Belts are made on backings with high tensile strength and optimum stretch resistance. We supply long, narrow and wide belts with various types of joints. The type of joint required depends on the work piece involved and machine used.
ICT’s coated abrasives fiber discs are designed for applications ranging from heavy stock removal to finishing operations. Made from vulcanized fiber backing and high performance bond system, these fiber discs are available in aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, zirconia alumina and ceramic aluminium oxide variants. The high quality fiber – available in different thickness – has high mechanical strength and is stable at high grinding temperatures. These discs are designed for high speed operations with hand held grinding machines. Our offer includes IDC fiber discs, jumbo fiber discs and trimmable discs.
IDC stands for “Individual Disc Coating”. As the name implies, these discs are individually coated with a superior bond and grain combination. Typically, in a jumbo fiber disc the jumbo is punched to the required shape: due to this action the outer edges of the disc tend to get weaker, resulting in a premature grain shedding. By coating individually, grain adhesion on the periphery of the disc drastically reduces grain shedding resulting in high performances.
In trimmable discs the backing is made out of natural jute which can be trimmed. These fiber discs require no backing pad and are absolutely curl free.
ICT’s flap discs are the one stop solution for grinding and polishing operations. Their significance is that the abrasive grains perform the cutting action. Once the grains are fully consumed, the work piece comes in contact with the cloth material which wears away giving rise to the new abrasive material to performe the operation once again. For this reason, ICT flap discs are preferred over fiber discs and D.C. wheels.
Our coated abrasives discs find extensive use in surface preparation applications on metal, composite, wood, wall, etc.. Available in paper, cloth, film and fiber backing with different abrasives suiting different needs, they are designed for stripping, intermediate finishing and polishing applications. Wide range of hole patterns are available to suit different machines.
Flap wheels are products with abrasive cloth flaps arranged around a central core. They are ideal products for numerous applications ranging from stock removal to polishing. Known for their flexibility, they are preferred for sanding of contour edges and intricate shapes. Similarly to flat discs, an important characteristic of flap wheel is its cloth which will wear away over usage giving rise to fresh abrasive grains.
Please get in touch with us at info@consulting-trading.com or through the contact form that you find here below to see what we can do for you: one of our technicians will provide feedbacks to you within a very short time.