Outlining Alumina Polishing Compounds
Polishing compounds are indispensable products for automotive engineering and vehicle maintenance. They are essentially used to mitigate the optical effects of small aberrations in body panels by leveling the uppermost surface of the paintwork.
Poor surface quality can be caused by countless factors, including overspray from powder- or spray coating processes, scratches, holograms, or swirls in the clear coat, industrial pollution, and acid rain or water spots. Unlike organic matter, flaws in the clear coat of your daily driver cannot be removed through even the most intensive cleaning process. They require a more aggressive solution.
What are Polishing Compounds?
A polishing compound comprises fully dispersed abrasive particles suspended in a continuous phase fluid. When applied to the vehicle substrate with a rotary buffer, these abrasive particles cut the surface and gradually remove defects from the clear coat. This cutting action also levels the surface to improve the overall finish and enable correction of relatively severe defects, such as deep clear coat scratches.
The performance of polishing compounds are generally determined by the physiochemical structure of the slurry, the method of application, the composition and mechanical properties of the vehicle substrate, and the various characteristics of the suspended abrasive.
Various abrasives have been used in automotive polishing compounds including aluminum silicate, diatomite, and standard calcined alumina. These materials exhibit the requisite hardness to withstand the aggressive mechanical action of rotary buffers and are suitable candidates for high removal rate. However, achieving a finely-tuned polishing compound requires tight control of more than just the abrasive’s material composition.
Particle morphology and aggregate structure, alongside solids loading and density in the slurry, are just a few of the critical factors impacting the performance of polishing compounds. Fortunately, Saint-Gobain Surface Conditioning has developed a range of comprehensive solutions to the ongoing challenge of automotive polishing.
Saint-Gobain Alumina Abrasives for Polishing Compounds
Saint-Gobain Surface Conditioning is one of the world’s leading authorities in particle engineering for mechanical polishing and planarization applications. With an unparalleled understanding of particle engineering and a robust range of experience in the development of unique alumina (Al2O3) solutions, we have prepared several automotive polishing compounds that outperform established alternatives.
The primary benefit of using alumina as an abrasive for automotive polishing is the unique hardness property of the material. It is a hard-wearing ceramic that can be engineered with tightly-developed crystal microstructures, from large and coarse particles to finer clusters of agglomerated crystals. We control the particle size distributions (PSDs) of products to eliminate overly coarse or fine products from the end-product. These can impact product performance by populating the PSD with inefficient fine particles and scratch inducing coarse particles. This enables us to holistically control the cutting action of individual abrasives and provide a dedicated solution for each step in the automotive polishing process. Our IDEAL product range includes:
- IDEAL Super
- IDEAL Cut
- IDEAL Hybrid
- IDEAL Finish
If you would like to learn more about our abrasive alumina particles, please read our previous blog post Saint Gobain Surface Conditioning: Alumina Abrasive Particles for Automotive Polishing. Or, contact us for any more information about integrating our unique alumina abrasives into your polishing compounds.