Glass bubble,Hollow glass microspheres , Glass sphere beads, Manufacturer & suppliers

Hollow glass microspheres ( also known as glass bubbles ) are hollow glass spheres made of chemically stable Soda-lime-borosilicate glass with thin walls(wall thickness 1~3.5μm). We have several grades available with true density ranging from 0.20g/cc~0.60g/cc, Sinosteel hollow glass microspheres can be used as lightweight functional additives for Composites,Thermal insulation paints/coatings, Sealant/adhesives, Low density cementing slurries and many more applications with very competitive quality and price.

Sinosteel Maanshan New Material Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinosteel Maanshan Institute of Mining Research Co. Ltd., is a comprehensive high-tech company that specializes in research&development 、production and sales of high-performance Hollow Glass Microspheres.

Established in 1963, Sinosteel Maanshan Institute of Mining Research Co., Ltd (Hereafter, The Institute) used to be a key scientific research institute under the former Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. The Institute has been authorized to grant master’s degree (first-level discipline) by the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council since early times. The Institute, now as a national innovation-oriented company and a key high-tech company under the National Torch Program, is attached to Sinosteel Group Corporation Limited. The Institute has undertaken and completed a number of major national science and technology projects successfully, and won more than 680 awards of scientific and technological achievements at national or provincial levels by far.

Colored hollow glass microspheres add color to a product without the use of other colorants (pigments or dyes) and also offer functional benefits such as lower viscosity and improved flow. Solid polyethylene hollow glass microspheres can be manufactured in any color, including flesh tone, clear, grey, fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark and multicolor, which provides a multitude of options for color effects in a wide variety of products.

Hollow glass microspheres can be used to add saturated color, a hint of color or a sparkle to a formula. Colored hollow glass microspheres enable formulators to achieve saturated colors or desired color effects with much larger particles, which are not respirable and come in a free- flowing dry powder, ensuring a simpler formulation process. In addition, since larger hollow glass microspheres tend to not agglomerate as easily as submicron pigments, the challenge of pressed-powder agglomeration is greatly reduced.

Since creating an opaque hollow glass microsphere is almost impossible, colored polymer hollow glass microspheres are often preferred for applications requiring high color, opacity and superior coverage. However, hollow glass microspheres are preferable if maximum clarity of the sphere is desired, for example, for a soft-focus effect.

In science and technology applications color becomes one of the most important properties of hollow glass microspheres, especially when used as tracer particles that need to have high contrast and visibility in the system, such as in-vivo studies, process diagnostics and troubleshooting, contamination studies, flow visualization, and instrument calibration, to name a few applications.

This article comes from microspheres edit released

Glass bubble, made of Soda Lime Borosilicate Glass, are hollow spheres which grain size is 10-250microns, wall-thickness 1-2 microns, filled with inert air or gas.
glass bubble are produced at the high temperature of 700-800 degrees Celsius through complicated chemical and physical transformation. glass bubbles are white and the specific gravity of them is about 0.25-0.60g/cc.
Hollow glass microshpere have much merit, such as lightweight, great buoyancy, hard, rigid, waterproof, innoxious, insulative, low heat conductivity, higher mechanical strength and excellent chemical stability,etc. glass bubble surface was treated by the special way and the products are dispersed very easily in organic materials such as resin.

glass bubble are widely used in composite materials such as FRP, man made marble and man made agate. glass bubble can decrease the weight of the composite materials and the composite materials have excellent performance of sound insulation and heat preservation, and they can improve the mechanical performance of the composite materials such as strengthened rigidity, enhanced anti-impact property, excellent anti-breaking property and re-processing function.

Features of Lightweight Hollow Glass Microspheres for Paint Additives
– Light specific gravity and large volume
– High disperion and good fluidity
– Heat insulation, sound insulation
– Low rate of absorbing oil

Application of Lightweight Hollow Glass Microspheres for Paint Additives
PLASTICS: BMC, SMC, Injection Molding, Extruding, PVC flooring, Film, Nylon, High Density Polyethylene, Low Density Polyethylene, Polypropylene
CERAMICS: Refractory, Tile, Firebricks, Aluminum Cement, Insulating Materials, Coatings.
ROCK OIL: Oil well construction, Heat preservation of oil pies, Materials used again erosion
SPACE: Aerospace coatings, Aerospace composites
AUTOMOTIVE: Composites, Undercoating, Engine parts, Brake pads, Trim molding, Body fillers, Plastics, Sound proofing materials
CONSTRUCTION: Specialty cements, Mortars, Grouts, Stucco, Roofing materials, Acoustical panels.

FROM:chnchemical

Hollow glass polymeric or ceramic microspheres are used in coatings or composites and exhibit unusual mechanical and heat-insulation properties.In many countries, heat insulation by means of coatings is achieved by adding hollow or solid microspheres in acrylic-based coatings. Many coatings are developed with high absorbtivity in the visible regime and very low emissivity in the IR regime for architectural as well as industrial coatings.

Issues like stringent environmental regulations, customer requirements and competitive markets can be tackled with innovative raw material usage and developing new processes. There are many raw materials available that can be called ‘answers awaiting questions’; a good example being microspheres.

These specialty materials are used for many purposes in many diverse industries. Microspheres are innovative raw materials in the coatings industry, and are diverse because both solid and hollow formats are readily available. Solid spheres are most commonly used in reflective traffic paints where the microspheres are used as light reflectors. Hollow microspheres are small, spherical particles ranging in size from 12-300 microns in diameter, and wall thickness up to 0.1 micron. As these microspheres are hollow, the true density is very low, ranging from 0.60 g/cc to as low as 0.025 g/cc. Organic hollow microspheres are mostly composed of polystyrene, polyacrylonitrile or phenolic materials, while inorganic microspheres are glass, ceramic or made from fly ash from thermal power plants.

Glass Microspheres
Glass microspheres give high heat and chemical resistance with density ranges of 0.125 – 0.60 g/cc. The collapse strength depends directly on the wall thickness and density, thus the higher the density, the higher the strength.

Solid or hollow glass microspheres are used in various applications in the coatings industry. They are commonly used to improve the performance of epoxy primers, powder coatings, floor applications, aircraft paints and industrial coatings. Hollow spheres are used in thermal insulating coatings for construction and transportation applications, and also for acoustic insulation coatings.(4) Hollow glass microspheres with a density of 0.6 g/cc with a fine particle size distribution can be used in flat wall paint.

Plastic Microspheres
Thermoplastic microspheres are compressible hollow particles with thin shell walls having densities as low as 0.025 g/cc. As resilient plastic materials, these microspheres can deform under stress (during high shear mixing or pumping), and there is very low to no breakage. The compressible nature of plastic can absorb impact, reducing damage caused by stone chips, foot traffic or freeze-thaw cycles.

Use in Coatings
Uniform spherical-shaped microspheres have lower surface area then irregular fillers and extender pigments, which means a lower resin demand. Another benefit to the spherical shape is the ability to roll past one another, hence there is minimal impact on viscosity when they are added to a liquid. As coatings are manufactured on weight basis and sold on volume basis, microspheres are used to increase the solid content of a coating, maintaining application and flow properties. Higher-volume solids reduce VOCs, shrinkage and drying time.

Since hollow spheres lower the density of materials, they are added to coatings. If added in coatings, it will atomize better while spraying and it will give less spatter while rolling also sag less once applied. [4]

One of the most important applications microspheres have been developed for is the Space Shuttle program. When the space shuttle re-enters the earth’s atmosphere, incredible heat is generated due to increasing air friction. In order to prevent the space shuttle from burning up during re-entry, NASA scientists developed a superior insulating material using Ceramic technology. This technology can now be applied to roofs and sidewalls of buildings, piping, ducts, tanks, various storage devices, refrigerated containers, cold rooms, etc. in order to insulate them from the radiant heat of the sun and the atmosphere by using hollow ceramic spheres.

Stagnant air is a bad conductor of heat because heat is transferred by convection currents. Stagnant air inside hollow spheres acts as an insulator for heat and hence can be used as heat insulating material in coatings. This characteristic of hollow microspheres allows improved thermal and acoustic insulation properties of coatings or composites. Currently, markets taking advantage of this property include fire retardant materials, sensitive acoustic equipment, and roof coatings.

Applications of Hollow Microspheres
All Types of Roofs – Flat or Slopping, made of Concrete, Metal or Asbestos Cement,
Side Walls of Residential and Commercial Buildings, Hotels and Hospitals, Construction Office,
Roofs and Sidewalls at Process Control Rooms, Surveillance Towers, Manufacturing Plants and similar constructions and structures
Piping in Air Conditioning Systems, Steam Pipes, Thermo Fluid Pipes, Boilers
Exterior of Storage Tanks for Crude Oil, Chemicals, Solvents, Natural and Petroleum Gas, Storage Devices at Petroleum and Petrochemical Industries,
Grain Silos, Fishing Trawlers, Cold Storage, Refrigerated Trucks and Containers
Exterior Roofs of Public Transport Vehicles, Railway Passenger Coaches

Limitations
Large particle sizes of microspheres can result in surface texture, meaning gloss reduction. Today, however, fine size hollow glass microspheres are available for coatings requiring higher gloss and thin layer deposition . Microspheres have low density, which means the particles have the tendency to become airborne while being added to the batch. Also for the same reasons, floating or phase separation can occur in the finished mix.

Conclusion
Hollow micro spheres (especially glass microspheres) offer improved scrub and burnish properties, gloss, stain resistance, viscosity control, thermal insulation and sound-dampening characteristics. No other conventional additive can match the multiple performance benefits of hollow micro spheres. Their hollow structure, low density and small particle size make them ideal for use as extenders for paint formulations. With particle sizes considerably finer than previously available, hollow micro spheres can be used in thin-film coatings to improve integrity. In the case of glass microspheres, they do not absorb resin, allowing more resin to be available in film forming; the result being a tighter and more uniform film with improved durability . Opaque hollow-sphere polymeric pigments can be added to improve dry hide of coatings, which allows the paint manufacturer to reduce the level of TiO2 in coatings at no loss of performance.

Hollow Glass Microspheres H46

How do you make glass microspheres?
1. Glass powder method
The glass powder method uses pre-prepared glass powder containing gases such as SO3 to pass through the flame at the temperature of 1100-1500℃. At this time, SO3 and other gases dissolved in the glass powder overflow from the inside of the glass due to the decrease in solubility and the change in the atmosphere of the kiln. At the same time, the glass powder becomes spherical under high temperature due to the surface tension. The spillage gas is sealed in the spherical particles to form hollow glass beads.
2. Spray granulation method
Spray granulation method is made in advance with special auxiliary reagent (boric acid, urea, ammonium pentaborate) aqueous solution of sodium silicate, and then through the nozzle to the solution injection into the spray dryer, is expected to drop after drying to get a certain particle size of powder particles, the final will be powder particle heating foam-forming hollow glass beads.
3. The droplet method
The liquid drop method adopts the same raw materials as the spray granulation method. The raw materials are 500 copies of sodium silicate (M (SiO2): M (Na2O) =2), and the same amount of 10% ammonium perborate aqueous solution is added. After mixing evenly, the hollow glass beads are sprayed into the spray drying tower.
4. Dry gel method
The alkyl salt was added to dilute hydrochloric acid and decompose with water. After gelation, the gel was dried in two stages at 60℃ and 150℃ and then crushed by a ball mill. After grading, the dried gel powder was obtained, which was foamed in a vertical electric furnace at 1280℃ to prepare hollow glass microspheres.

Applications of Hollow Glass Sphere :
Hollow glass microspheres are widely used in glass fiber reinforced plastic products, composite foam plastic, artificial marble, compound wood, sound insulation heat preservation material, atomic ash, deep-sea buoyancy, bowling, low-density cement, sealing material, lightweight, resin handicraft, the mural wall hanging frame, wall plate sandwich layer structure of lightweight packaging materials, electronic industry, absorbing material, lightweight concrete, such as emulsion explosive.
Hollow glass microspheres also provide a conductive coating. Conductive coatings of optimized thickness provide spherical particles with excellent conductivity and shielding properties while maintaining the weight savings associated with hollow, low-density materials. These conductive microbubbles are suitable for military applications, biotechnology, medical devices, electronics and other special industries.
Hollow glass beads have obvious weight reduction and sound insulation and heat preservation effect so that the products have good cracking resistance and reprocessing performance, is widely used in engineering plastics, insulation materials, rubber, buoyancy material, FRP, artificial marble, man-made agate, generation of composite materials such as wood, and the oil industry, aerospace, communications, 5 g new high-speed trains, cars, ships, in areas such as thermal insulation coatings, adhesives, vigorously promote the development of science and technology.

FROM:TRUNNANO

Hollow glass microspheres, sometimes termed microballoons or glass bubbles, have diameters ranging from 10 to 300 micrometers. Hollow spheres are used as lightweight fillers in composite materials such as syntactic foam and lightweight concrete. The hollow glass bead is a kind of specially processed glass bead, which is mainly characterized by smaller density and poorer thermal conductivity than glass bead. It is a new kind of micron-grade light material developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Its main component is borosilicate, with a general particle size of 10~250μm and a wall thickness of 1~2μm. Hollow glass beads are characterized by high compressive strength, high melting point, high resistivity, small thermal conductivity and thermal shrinkage coefficient, etc., and they are known as the “space-age material” in the 21st century.
Hollow glass microspheres, also known as bubbles, microbubbles, or micro balloons, are usually formulated from borosilicate – sodium salt glass mixtures and offer the advantages of low density, high heat and chemical resistance. The walls of glass microspheres are rigid and are usually about 10% thick of the diameter of the spheres. At present, spherical particles have a wide range of densities, from as low as 0.06g/ C3 to as high as 0.80g/ C3, with particle sizes ranging from 5um to 180um. The compressive strength of the hollow sphere is determined by the wall thickness of the hollow sphere and, as expected, the greater the density of the sphere, the higher the compressive strength.The lightweight hollow glass sphere is chemically stable, non-flammable, non-porous, excellent water resistance.

Product Performance of Hollow Glass Sphere:
Hollow glass microspheres are micron-level hollow glass microspheres with a smooth surface. The main chemical component is borosilicate glass, and it is a hollow transparent sphere under the electron microscope. Hollow glass beads have low density, high strength, high temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, low thermal conductivity, electrical insulation and other properties. They have good fluidity and chemical stability, and they are multi-functional frontier new materials across fields.

FROM:TRUNNANO

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most widely used silicon-based polymer due to its versatility and the range of attractive properties.

Fabrication of PDMS involves liquid phase cross-linking to obtain hydrophobic and mechanically flexible material in the final solid form. This gives opportunity to add various fillers to affect the properties of resulting material. In the present work, we describe simple and reliable method of making a PDMS-based composite material with significantly improved thermal insulation properties by adding hollow glass microspheres to the mixture of liquid base and cross-linker (10:1 ratio) followed by degassing and heat-assisted crosslinking. We obtained 31% reduction of thermal conductivity for samples with hollow glass microspheres content of 20% by mass.

At the same time, sound insulation capacity slightly decreased as a result of lower density of PDMS-hollow glass microspheres composite in comparison to pure PDMS. The wettability of the samples had no dependence on hollow glass microspheres content.

This article comes from chemrxiv edit released

hollow glass microspheres can be used in paints and coatings, sealants and adhesives, rubber, plastic, FRP, artificial stone, putty and other products as filler and weight-reducing agent. The glass bubbles can also be used to produce high-strength, low-density cement slurry and low-density drilling fluidity in oil and gas extraction industry. more and more industries are trying to test the hollow glass spheres as additives to improve the products’ properties.

1. 1. 1. a. lightweight cement, low-density oil well cementing slurry & low-density drilling fluids additive.
   1. 1. b. low-density FRP(fiberglass-reinforced plastic), SMC, BMC composites.
   1. 1. c. Nylon, PA, PA6, PA66 for reducing weight.
   1. 1. d. low-density adhesives & sealants.
   1. 1. e. heat insulation paints and coatings.
   1. 1. f.  Construction (reducing warpage/shrinkage).
   1. 1. g. Insulation and Buoyancy.
   1. 1. h. artificial marble.

We utilized tridecafluorooctyltriethoxysilane (F8261) for the surface modification of hollow glass microspheres. We then measured the contact angles and the residing time of oil droplets on the hollow glass microspheres surface under different conditions and investigated the effects of the modifier concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature, and other factors on the outcomes of the modification reaction.

We also compared the effects of hollow glass microspheres on the expansion ratio and 25% drainage time of protein foam liquid before and after the modification treatment and investigated the effects of hollow glass microspheres surface oleophobic modification on the foaming capacity and stability of foam extinguishing agent.

The results showed that when the F8261 concentration was 1.0%, the temperature was 60°C, and the ultrasound treatment time was 2.0 h, the contact angle was up to 132.5°, the oleophobic property of hollow glass microspheres could be significantly enhanced, and the foaming capacity and the oil surface stability were significantly improved by the oleophobic modification.

This article comes from hindawi edit released

The composites industry is an application of microspheres that consumes the greatest amount by volume. Many of these microspheres are lightweight hollow glass or ceramic spheres that are added to binder material to create products with the lowest possible weight.

Integration of microspheres into composite parts increases the ease of applications and mixing. The ball-bearing effect improves flow and lowers the viscosity of resin mixes, which significantly simplifies processability, resulting in easier machinability, faster cycle times and cost savings. The smooth, spherical shape of microspheres allows even dispersion and packing efficiency. Microspheres can be used in most processing methods for thermoset and thermoplastic polymers such as extrusion and injection molding. They blend easily into compounds, which makes them adaptable to a variety of production processes, including spraying and casting.

Hollow glass microspheres provide weight reduction and resin extension in aerospace, automotive, construction, explosive, marine, coating, abrasive, film industry and sporting goods applications.

Flotation Devices and Underwater Vessels
Microspheres are widely used in the fiber-reinforced polyester industry to improve the manufacturing process for shower stalls, boats, some types of flotation devices and underwater vessels, offering the benefits of deep-sea buoyancy and subsea thermal insulation. Syntactic pipe insulation and buoyancy foams made with hollow microspheres are used in a growing number of deep-water recovery programs.

Automotive, Building, Marine and Aerospace
The automotive, building, marine and aerospace industries require the lowest possible weight for materials. The makers of syntactic foams require the controlled, closed cells that only microspheres can offer. Due to their physical characteristics, most microspheres are extremely good insulators, reflect and dissipate heat very effectively, and are also fire resistant. As a result, many fire-retardant materials and roof coatings are made using ceramic or glass microspheres. Microspheres are also used in acoustic/dielectric sensors and aerospace adhesives.

Oil and Gas
Microspheres are used in oil and gas production as an additive for lightweight cement slurries and allow reduction of cement slurry density without increasing the water content.

Paints and Coatings
Coatings containing microspheres are stronger and more durable than other coatings. Because hollow spheres lower the density of materials to which they are added, a gallon of paint or coating made with hollow microspheres will weigh less than the same product
made without them. Lower-density coatings are cheaper to produce and ship and easier to carry up ladders. Next-generation microspheres used in paint and coating applications enhance weatherability and durability of components and finished products.