Silicon Carbide Abrasive vs. Aluminum Oxide Abrasive Comparison Guide

In processing, the choice of abrasive is very important for the quality of the final product. This article will explain to you the two most commonly used abrasives in industry - aluminum oxide abrasive and silicon carbide abrasive. You can read this article with the following questions in mind:

What is the difference between aluminum oxide abrasive and silicon carbide abrasive?
What is the difference between different colors of aluminum oxide?
What factors should I consider when choosing abrasives?
What are the environmental risks of abrasives during use?

Alumina Abrasive

Alumina is a common industrial abrasive. I believe you know that alumina is a material with very high hardness. Yes, the Mohs hardness of alumina is 9, which is very close to diamond. This characteristic brings it excellent wear resistance.

If you choose alumina abrasive, we recommend that you use it for grinding and polishing some medium or hard materials, such as wood, metal, ceramics, plastics, etc.

Alumina abrasives come in many colors, including white, pink, brown and blue. Different colors of abrasives have slightly different uses.

Brown alumina abrasive is also called brown corundum. This abrasive is made from molten bauxite in industry. Compared with other colors of alumina abrasives, brown corundum has better wear resistance, better toughness, and is more economical. It is often used for rough grinding of metals, glass and wood (that is, preliminary grinding of materials, removal of excess materials, etc., to provide better surface conditions for subsequent fine grinding). If you often need to perform sandblasting, cutting, grinding and other processes, then using brown corundum is very suitable.

White aluminum oxide abrasive (also known as white corundum), this type of abrasive aluminum oxide purity is above 99%, very high hardness, but relatively low toughness. Unlike brown corundum, white corundum is more suitable for fine grinding and polishing.

Pink aluminum oxide abrasive is the result of a small amount of chromium oxide in white corundum, also known as chrome corundum. This abrasive has a softer cutting effect, and can achieve a great surface finish when polishing some softer wood or paint!

There are many types of aluminum oxide abrasives. Generally speaking, brown abrasives are suitable for high-intensity grinding processes such as coarse grinding and deburring, while white and pink abrasives are more suitable for fine grinding and polishing.

Silicon Carbide Abrasive

Silicon carbide abrasive is harder than aluminum oxide abrasive, with a Mohs hardness of 9.5. It is one of the hardest abrasives. It is highly recommended that you use it for grinding some high-hard materials, such as ceramics, carbide, glass and stone.

SiC is very efficient in grinding because of its hardness, but it is brittle and wears faster. At the same time, there are also some environmental problems in the grinding process. During grinding, silicon carbide abrasives may produce a lot of dust particles. In addition to causing environmental pollution, if inhaled by the human body, it may also cause a series of respiratory diseases. Therefore, a series of countermeasures need to be taken when using silicon carbide abrasives.

Many people will use silicon carbide abrasives and aluminum oxide abrasives in combination, relying on the advantages of each abrasive to achieve better grinding effects.

How to Choose Between Aluminum Oxide Abrasive and Silicon Carbide Abrasive?

Each of these two abrasives has its own areas of expertise, and the abrasive used depends on the material being polished.

Aluminum oxide is good at some softer materials that require fine grinding, polishing and smooth surfaces, such as most metal materials; silicon carbide handles those materials with high hardness and performs more efficient and heavy-duty grinding, such as some hard non-metallic materials.

For example, for grinding steel and aluminum, the effect of aluminum oxide abrasives will be significantly better than silicon carbide abrasives, but the best choice is to combine aluminum oxide and silicon carbide abrasives. In addition to processing and grinding metals, this method is also often used for grinding some wood.

In order to give you a clearer and more intuitive understanding, we have drawn a table based on the article, through which you can quickly understand the content of the article.