Hollow glass microspheres have helped to revolutionize the area of polymer fillers with an extensive variety of hollow glass microspheres offerings. A diversity of diameters and isostatic collapse strength varieties are available for a range of mixing, processing, and end-use solutions.
The advantages offered by hollow glass microspheres are many, yet due to their unique aspect ratio, density, and chemical properties, they must be handled differently than typical mineral fillers, particularly in storage, formulating, metering, mixing, pumping, and weighing. Due to their ultra-low-density, hollow glass microspheres occupy up to 20 times the space for a given weight of a traditional filler. Also, due to their thin-shelled hollow nature, they may be broken by compression at constrain points, shear under areas of tight clearance, and impact at turns in transfer equipment.
As a result of the above, one must beware to minimize the compression, impact, and shear forces upon the hollow glass microspheres to ensure they are not damaged during processing and transport.
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