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

Hollow glass microspheres (sometimes termed microballoons, or glass bubbles) have been used as low-density fillers for various kinds of polymeric compounds since the mid-1960s. They are gas-filled, spherical, borosilicate particles with diameters typically between 10 and 100 microns. The spheres are manufactured on an enormous scale by several companies worldwide and, despite their structure, they can have extremely high compressive strength. They are routinely used as fillers in concretes, syntactic foams and other structural components, particularly in the marine and aerospace sectors. The profile of weight saving materials has increased dramatically in recent years due to both rising oil prices and environmental awareness.

Someone has taken low density fillers to the next stage of development. By adding less than 100 nanometers of materials, such as metals and metal oxides to the surface of the hollow glass particles, hybrid materials can be generated which retain the functionality of the coating material itself, but with the benefits of significantly reduced density, better handling/recovery properties and improved particle/matrix interfacial strength. Using its expertise in particle coating, They has developed low density fillers coated with, amongst other materials, titanium dioxide and metallic silver. The aqueous-based processes used to make these materials readily lend themselves to large scale production.

The range of applications in which coated microspheres and microparticles can be used to enhance current composites, or provide new solutions, is extremely diverse and the size, density, surface chemistry and functionality required by end users tend to be application specific. There is significant scope, therefore, for the development of a wide range of new materials to meet these diverse market opportunities.

From: microspheretechnology

Hollow glass microspheres can be used as a continuous medium in low-density cement slurries. With addition of hollow glass microspheres, The slurry is incompressible and all wells are uniform in density. Used in drilling fluid, Sludge cakes formed have good lubrication, reducing the risk of sticking. Hollow glass microspheres have an irreplaceable advantage for it cannot affect the system signal. Hollow glass microspheres have a good rolling performance, and can increase the drilling rate, and significantly improve the drilling efficiency. Cementing with hollow glass microspheres has feature of high temperature resistance, high pressure resistance, stability, durability, and can be recycled. With the increase of pressure layer, low-density slurry cementing with hollow glass microspheres were adopted to consolidate the wells to prevent or reduce leakage, increase the cement top. It will improve single well production, and can be used effectively to obtain underground oil and gas and high temperature geothermal resources.

Hollow Glass Microspheres can be used in paint, rubber, plastics, FRP, artificial stone, putty and other products as filler and weight-reducing agent. It can also be the excellent sensitizer for emulsion explosives; Because of its high compressive properties, it can be used to produce high-strength low-density cement slurry and low density drilling fluid in oil and gas extraction industry.

S38HS glass bubbles have a density of 0.38 g/cc and an isostatic crush strength of 5500 psi. The S Series glass bubbles have smaller particle sizes than the K Series. The S38HS has a higher crush strength than the S38 glass bubble.

Properties

Low thermal conductivity
Virtually insoluble in water or oil
Increased Production Throughput
Lightweighting
Temperature Resistance
Chemical Resistance
Applications

Paints and coatings, Rubber and plastic, Compounding, Insulation and buoyancy, Transportation

From:3M

Glass microspheres are hollow spheres of glass manufactured for a wide variety of uses in consumer goods, medicine, research and numerous industries from Aerospace to Automotive. Hollow glass microspheres from Ceno Technologies, sometimes termed microballoons or glass bubbles, have diameters sized in micrometers (microns).

Glass microspheres from Ceno Technologies are free-flowing, high strength, low density, inert and have a wide variety of uses as a lightweight filler in composite materials, syntactic foams, paints, plastics, putties, mastics, fibreglass, sealants, varnishes, resins and cements.

Ceno Series HGT high performance microspheres are hollow, white in color and manufactured from soda-lime borosilicate glass in a range of sizes from 2 to 110 microns.

The soda-lime borosilicate composition and near perfect spherical shape of these hollow glass microspheres provide high compressive strength.

Hollow Glass Microspheres–Series HGT–Particle Sizes

Benefits include:

Other key properties include low water absorption, low heat conductivity, high chemical resistance and radio transparency.

Hollow Glass Microspheres – Series HGT – T

From：cenotechnologies

Hollow Glass Microspheres. developed in recent years, are a new type of materials which shows a greater use and an outstanding performance. The product, made mainly from borosilicate, is a hollow microspheres whose grain size is 10-250 micron and wall-thickness 1-2 micron.

The products have many advantages substantial weight saving, low heat conductivity, high mechanical strength and fine chemical stability. With treated specially, they have the properties of lipophilicity and hydrophobicity and are very easily dispersed in organic materials such as resin. It is widely used in the composite materials such as FRP(fiber reinforced plastics),man-made marble and man-made agate.

They have the distinct results of decreasing weight, sound insulation and heat preservation, thus the products have the excellent performances of anti-crazing and re-processing. They are widely to be used in a range of fields such as aviation, space, new bullet train, luxurious yacht, heat insulating dope, bowling balls and play a unique role.

From: bariteworld

Engineered additives for a new generation of high performance paints and coatings.

Glass Bubbles are lightweight/high-strength hollow glass spheres, used as alternatives to conventional fillers in a variety of paints  and specialty coatings, including spackling, caulks, adhesives, roof coatings and more.

From:3M

Lightweight Microspheres in the 11-18 micron range, even smaller flecks of Aluminium or Mica and even Nanoparticles can be coated with a variety of metals including silver, gold, iridium and palladium. The resultant finishes have all the properties of solid metals and have a larger surface area but are extremely reflective, very lightweight and very cost effective.

When added to paints, adhesives, sealers, plastic and resin materials at appropriate ratios, these coated cenospheres, microspheres, nanoparticles, aluminium or mica fleck materials can then provide electrical conductivity and shielding of electronic devices against Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI). The low particle density and large surface area facilitates slow phase separation in paints and adhesives compared to heavy metallic and inorganic fillers.

From: Ceno Technologies

High strength, low-density hollow glass microspheres for critical deepwater components.

These additives are used for density reduction, thermal insulation and buoyancy in many

kinds of syntactic foam compositions.

From:3M

Summary：
K25 glass bubbles have a density of 0.25 g/cc and an isostatic crush strength of 750 psi.

Properties：
Lower viscosity, improved flow
Increased filler loading, reduced cost
VOC reduction
Chemical stability and inertness
Reduced dielectric constant
Thermal conductivity reduction
Temperature resistance

Applications：
Mining
Paints and coatings
Insulation and buoyancy
Transportation

Glass microspheres are microscopic spheres of glass manufactured
for a wide variety of uses in research, medicine, consumer goods and
various industries. Glass microspheres are usually between 1 to 1000
micrometers in diameter, although the sizes can range from 100
nanometers to 5 millimeters in diameter. Hollow glass
microspheres,sometimes termed microballoons, or glass bubbles have
diameters ranging from 10 to 300 micrometers.

Hollow spheres are used as a lightweight filler in composite materials
such as syntactic foam and lightweight concrete. Microballoons give
syntactic foam its light weight, low thermal conductivity, and a
resistance to compressive stress that far exceeds that of other
foams. These properties are exploited in the hulls of submersibles and
deep-sea oil drilling equipment, where other types of foam would
implode.
Hollow spheres of other materials create syntactic foams with
different properties, for example ceramic balloons can make a light
syntactic aluminium foam.

Hollow spheres also have uses ranging from storage and slow release
of pharmaceuticals and radioactive tracers to research in controlled
storage and release of hydrogen. Microspheres are also used in
composites to fill polymer resins for specific characteristics such as
weight, sandability and sealing surfaces. When making surfboards for
example, shapers seal the EPS foam blanks with epoxy and
microballoons to create an impermeable and easily sanded surface
upon which fiberglass laminates are applied.

Glass microspheres can be made by heating tiny droplets of dissolved
water glass in a process known as ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP),
and properties can be improved somewhat by using a chemical
treatment to remove some of the sodium. Sodium depletion has also
allowed hollow glass microspheres to be used in chemically sensitive
resin systems, such as long pot life epoxies or non-blown
polyurethane composites

Additional functionalities, such as silane coatings, are commonly
added to the surface of hollow glass microspheres to increase the
matrix/microspheres interfacial strength (the common failure point
when stressed in a tensile manner).

Microspheres made of high quality optical glass, can be produced for
research on the field of optical resonators or cavities.

Glass microspheres are also produced as waste product in coal-fired
power stations. In this case the product would be generally termed
“cenosphere” and carry an aluminosilicate chemistry (as opposed to
the sodium silica chemistry of engineered spheres). Small amounts of
silica in the coal are melted and as they rise up the chimney stack, expand
and form small hollow spheres. These spheres are collected together
with the ash, which is pumped in a water mixture to the resident ash dam.
Some of the particles do not become hollow and sink in the ash
dams, while the hollow ones float on the surface of the dams. They become a
nuisance, especially when they dry, as they become airborne and
blow over into surrounding areas.

Source: Wikipedia