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

A novel epoxy resin (EP)/hollow glass microsphere modified composite was successfully prepared.

Studies showed that the water absorption rate of the g-hollow glass microspheres/EP composite is lower than pure hollow glass microspheres/EP and hollow glass microspheres-KH550/EP composites, while the compressive strength of g-hollow glass microspheres/EP composites could be increased.

The enhanced interfacial adhesion between EP and g-hollow glass microspheres played an important role to improve the compatibility of the two components. The g-hollow glass microspheres show little effect on density (relative to hollow glass microspheres) on the g-hollow glass microspheres/EP composites, which can perform better than the hollow glass microspheres/EP composites being used in marine environments.

It was found that the optimal content of 4,4’-diphenylmethane diisocyanate in the epoxy component was 20 wt%.

Hollow glass microspheres have many attractive features as a hydrogen storage medium.

Optically-induced outgassing of hydrogen from glass is significantly faster than conventional heating.

Current work seeks to demonstrate feasibility using hollow glass microspheres.

Glass microspheres are divided into hollow glass microspheres and solid glass microspheres

1. The main application fields of solid glass microbeads are:
1. Road reflective glass beads:

Road reflective glass beads are divided into internal mixing type and surface scattering type. The internal mixing type is mixed in the paint during the production of road reflective paint, which can ensure the long-term reflection of road markings within the life period.
The surface sprinkler type is used in road marking construction to spread on the surface of the marking line to achieve an instant reflective effect. Road marking glass beads are divided into two specifications: coated and non-coated. Surface-treated coated glass beads are used in road marking construction, which can greatly improve the adhesion between the glass beads and the road marking paint. , Water resistance, enhance the reflectivity of road markings, and have self-cleaning, anti-fouling, moisture-proof and other uses.

2. Shot peening glass beads:

Shot peening glass beads Glass beads used for industrial shot peening and additives can be used on metal surfaces and mold surfaces without damaging the surface of the workpiece and improving the accuracy of the workpiece. It is used for cleaning and polishing of metal metal, plastic, jewelry, precision casting and other objects. It is a high-grade finishing material commonly used at home and abroad.

3. Grinding glass beads:

Grinding glass beads have the advantages of good chemical stability, mechanical strength and hardness, surface finish, good fluidity, low abrasion, easy industrial and mining control, etc. As abrasive materials, they are widely used in chemical materials, coatings, pigments, food, medicine and other fields.

4. Glass beads for decoration:

Glass microbeads, glass sand and colored glass microbeads for handicrafts are ideal materials for garment printing, garment heat transfer, Christmas tree surface decoration, artificial fruit, artificial flower crafts surface decoration, and hourglass quicksand manufacturing.

5. Filling:

Glass beads are also widely used as a new type of material in various fields such as medical equipment and nylon, rubber, engineering plastics, and aviation. Such as additives, enhancers and so on.

2. The main application fields of hollow glass microspheres are:

1. The color is pure white, which can be widely used in any products that have requirements on the appearance color.
2. The specific gravity is light, and the density of hollow glass microspheres is about one tenth of the density of traditional filler particles. After filling, the basis weight of the product can be greatly reduced, more production resins can be replaced and saved, and the product cost can be reduced.
3. Lipophilic, hollow glass microspheres are easy to wet and disperse, and can be filled in most thermosetting thermoplastic resins, such as polyester, epoxy resin, polyurethane, etc.
4. Good fluidity. Since hollow glass microspheres are tiny spheres, they have better fluidity in liquid resins than flake, needle or irregular fillers, so they have excellent mold filling performance. More importantly, the small microbeads are isotropic, so there is no disadvantage of inconsistent shrinkage rates in different parts due to orientation, which ensures the dimensional stability of the product and will not warp.
5. Heat and sound insulation, the hollow glass beads are thin gas inside, so it has the characteristics of sound insulation and heat insulation, and it is an excellent filler for various thermal insulation and sound insulation products. The insulating properties of hollow glass microspheres can also be used to protect products from thermal shock caused by alternating between rapid heating and rapid cooling conditions. High specific resistance and extremely low water absorption make it widely used in the production of cable insulation materials.
6. The oil absorption rate is low. The particles of the sphere determine that it has the smallest specific surface area and low oil absorption rate. During use, the amount of resin can be greatly reduced. Even under the premise of high addition amount, the viscosity will not increase a lot, which is greatly improved. The production operating conditions can be improved, and the production efficiency can be increased by 10% to 20%.

Article Source：HS glass beads

To improve the safety of handling and storing complex metal hydrides on board of automobiles, complex hydrides encapsulation in hollow glass microspheres was proposed and researched.

Formation of intact hollow glass microspheres with an open through wall porosity following phase separation and acid leaching of the boron oxide rich phase was demonstrated.

Encapsulation of sodium alanate within the prepared hollow glass microspheres by diffusion through wall porosity was illustrated. The observation of unusual alanate structures in the form of needle bundles on the interior and exterior surfaces of the spheres following the encapsulation was obtained.

Glass fifiber fabrics/hollow glass microspheres–waterborne polyurethane (WPU) textile composites were prepared using glass fifiber, WPU, and hollow glass microspheres as skeleton material, binder, and insulation fifiller, respectively, to study the effect of hollow glass microspheres on the thermal insulation performance of glass fifiber fabrics.

Scanning electron microscopy, Instron 3367 tensile test instrument, thermal constant analysis, and infrared thermal imaging were used to determine the cross-sectional morphology, mechanical property, thermal conductivity, and thermal insulation property, respectively, of the developed materials.

The results show that the addition of hollow glass microsphere mixed in WPU signifificantly enhanced thermal insulation performance of the textile composite with the reduction of thermal conductivity of 45.2% when the volume ratio of hollow glass microspheres to WPU is 0.8 compared with that of material without hollow glass microsphere.

The composite can achieve the thermal insulation effect with a temperature difference of 17.74 ◦C at the temperature fifield of 70 ◦C. Meanwhile, the tensile strength of the composite is improved from 14.16 to 22.14 MPa. With these results, it is confifirmed that designing hollow glass microspheres is an effective way to develop and enhance the high performance of insulation materials with an obvious lightweight of the bulk density reaching about 50%.

RTP Company announces the availability of specialty compounds containing hollow glass microspheres which reduce part weight, enhance properties and lower part costs in demanding applications.

High loadings of these microspheres, which are manufactured by 3M and known as ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles, can be added to thermoplastics to reduce overall part weight, and thus per part material costs. Additionally, they can modify polymer characteristics, achieving lower viscosity, improved flow, and reduced shrinkage and warpage.

For example, some compounds containing ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles can have their specific gravity reduced by as much as 30 percent. The use of glass bubbles also provides more uniform control and reproducibility than other methods typically used for weight reduction, such as foaming agents.

ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles reduce thermal conductivity and lower dielectric constants of most thermoplastics. Non-combustible and non-porous, the glass bubbles do not absorb moisture. Compounds containing ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles are available in most engineering resins and easily adapt to common processing methods, including injection molding and extrusion. Applications that can benefit from this weight saving technology exist in the aerospace, automotive, marine, electronic, and medical industries.

FROM:RTP Company

In this work, hollow glass microsphere reinforced triglycidyl-p-aminophenol (TGPAP) epoxy composites was prepared and the influence of hollow glass microsphere on mechanical and thermal properties of the composites was investigated.

Mechanical behaviors of the composites with various weight fractions of hollow glass microsphere from 0 to 9% were investigated in terms of impact property at both room temperature (RT) and liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). The fracture surfaces of undoped epoxy and the composites were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

The results show that both the impact strength at room temperature and 77 K are all enhanced by the addition of hollow glass microsphere with appropriate contents.

Furthermore, the thermal conductivity and coefficients of thermal expansion of undoped epoxy and hollow glass microsphere/epoxy composites were also investigated from 77 K to room temperature.

It is found that the composites show lower thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion than undoped epoxy. The results indicate that hollow glass microsphere/epoxy composites are promising cryogenic materials.

Observing glass beads under a microscope

40 mesh solid glass beads with a rounding rate greater than 85%

40-mesh glass beads with a rounding rate greater than 80%

200 mesh solid glass beads

hollow glass beads

325 mesh glass beads with a rounding rate greater than 90%

FROM:HS glass beads

The objective of this work is to improve the structural characteristics of hollow glass microsphere filled epoxy syntactic foam composites with little voids content and improved hollow glass microspheres dispersion in the composite.

A modified degassing technique has been introduced during resin casting process of the hollow glass microspheres filled syntactic foam composites. The effect of hollow glass microspheres content volume fractions (5–25%) on the degassing techniques was examined. The syntactic foam composites were characterized by analysing structural morphology using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM), and density measurements (theoretical and experimental).

Less than 5% void content has been achieved in this study. This resulted in improved tensile and dynamic mechanical properties (DMA).

New glass bubbles for 5G, the newest member of its high-strength hollow glass bubbles product line, provides a unique, low-loss high speed high frequency (HSHF) resin additive for composite materials that designers use to build 5G devices and assemblies. The Glass Bubbles help designers enable products that can meet the rigorous transmission requirements and increased power demands that come with 5G implementation, while lowering the per volume cost of raw materials.

The Glass Bubbles for 5G help enable designers of HSHF copper clad laminate (CCL) to produce smooth, lightweight 5G substrates for building printed circuit boards (PCBs) – the building blocks for 5G wireless radio systems. They can also be used in plastic composites that a 5G signal transfers through, such as base station assemblies, radome shells, or even mobile phone cases. For further information see the IDTechEx report on 5G Small Cells 2021-2031: Technologies, Markets, Forecast.

Signal loss and interference have always been a factor in PCB manufacturing and will become more challenging as 5G networks operate at higher signal frequencies. Using The Glass Bubbles as a resin additive in the CCL helps control dielectric properties, allowing design engineers to reduce signal transmission loss at higher frequencies and improves signal reliability. The Glass Bubbles have one of the lowest dielectric constants of any known materials additive, making it attractive for the electronics industry.

“The Glass Bubbles have been used for more than 50 years and recent innovation has enabled the design of a bubble targeting the unique needs of 5G electronics. The new Glass Bubbles were designed specifically for 5G to help improve data transfer speeds in higher frequency applications,” said Brian Meyer, President of Advanced Materials Division. “They are committed to the 5G space, and we’re excited to apply our science where it matters most, collaborating on the low-loss materials needed to help designers with their higher speed wireless communications challenges now and in the future.”

Blending in Glass Bubbles for 5G HSHF CCL can also help designers lower their substrate materials costs by displacing typically higher cost resins. Further, lightweight Glass Bubbles occupy up to 20 times more space compared to the typical solid mineral fillers. Considering the cost per unit volume (instead of price per lb. or kg), The Glass Bubbles are a cost-effective choice in many applications.

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