This is Abrasives Marketing Research and can include information on the background, market structure, definitions, competitors, trends and developments of abrasives and is related to other topics such as manufacturing and minerals.

Table of Contents

[edit] Background

Abrasives are materials used to wear away the surface of softer materials through rubbing away the surface. They are also used for polishing or changing the feel, surface or shape of materials. The use of abrasives has now become a critical element in manufacturing industries for finishing or shaping both finished products and other materials. Another very common but non-industrial use of abrasives is the use of toothpastes – used for the “rubbing” of enamel. Toothpastes contain calcium carbonate or silica as a polishing agent to remove plaque and other matters from teeth. The hardness of calcium carbonate is less than that of tooth enamel but more than that of the contaminating agent and its effectiveness is very clear.

Historically, the earliest instance of abrasion on a large scale was possibly the rubbing of two stones against each other to shape weapons or tools. Ancient Egyptian drawings illustrate the use of abrasives to polish jewelry and vases.

Abrasives may be sourced from either natural or synthetic materials. Some of the most common uses today include the following: grinding wheels, sandpapers, honing stones, polishes, cutoff wheels, tumbling & vibratory mass-finishing media, sandblasting, ball mills and other uses.

Natural abrasives include:

• Calcite
• Emery
• Diamond
• Novaculite
• Pumice
• Rouge
• Sand

Synthetic abrasives include

• Borazon
• Ceramic
• Corundum
• Dry ice
• Glass powder
• Silicon carbide

Commercial abrasives are manufactured in many shapes. Natural abrasives are generally sold as dressed stones, usually in from of rectangular blocks. Both natural and synthetic abrasives are shaped as bonded or coated abrasives, including belts, discs, wheels, sheets, blocks, rods and loose grains.

The top four types of abrasive products by product share, as of the early 1990s, were as follows:

• Nonmetallic coated abrasive products and buffing and polishing wheels (45%)
• Nonmetallic abrasive products, including diamond abrasives (23.7%)
• Nonmetallic sized grains, powders, and flour abrasives (17.2%)
• Other nonmetallic shapes, coated or impregnated with any natural or artificial abrasive material, cloth-resin, and waterproof bond (12%)

[edit] Market Structure

Abrasives are generally used as intermediate products in the manufacturing process and are not end products or finished products. The highest share of world imports in abrasives is occupied by U.S. manufacturers. In 2005, the U.S. imported $168 million of abrasive materials. Other large importers of abrasives on Western Europe include Belgium and Ireland. At the same time, the U.S. is also a large exporter of abrasives, as are Thailand and South Africa. In 2005, USA exports totaled over $125 million. South Africa has recently become a major abrasives exporter, slightly surpassing the U.S. as an exporter in 2005. The abrasives market totals $4.8 billion.

[edit] Industry Definitions

Calcite — CaCO3. One of the most widely distributed minerals on the earth's surface. It is a common constituent of sedimentary rocks, particularly in limestone and is also a primary mineral in metamorphic marble. It also occurs as a vein mineral in deposits from hot springs or in caverns as stalactites and stalagmites and is seen as the primary constituent of the shells of marine organisms.

Emery — A very hard rock type used to make abrasive powder. Largely consists of the mineral Corundum (aluminum oxide), mixed with other species. Black or dark gray in color. Crushed or naturally eroded emery (known as black sand) is used as an abrasive. Demand for emery has decreased.

Diamond — Hardest known natural material. Third hardest known material. Diamonds make excellent abrasives as they can be scratched only by other diamonds. About 130 million carats (26,000 kg.) are mined every year, with a total value of nearly US$9 billion. About 100,000 kilograms are also synthesized annually.

Novaculite — A form of chert or flint. It is found in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma, and in the Marathon Uplift of Texas. It is very resistant to erosion. The word Novaculite is derived from the Latin word 'novacula' meaning razor stone.

Pumice — Kind of volcanic rock, i.e. solidified foam. Commonly pale in color, ranging from white, cream or grey, but can be green brown or black. Used especially in polishes, cosmetics exfoliants, and for stone-washed jeans.

Rouge — Fe2O3. Also known as Ferric Oxide, Hematite etc. or simply rust. Fine powder of ferric oxide is known as Jeweller's Rouge, Red Rouge, or simply Rouge. Rouge is used to place the finishing polish on metallic jewellery and lenses. Other polishing compounds are also often called Rouge, although they may not possess iron oxide.

Borazon — Fourth hardest substance. Third hardest artificial material. It was first produced in 1957. It is used in industrial applications to shape tools at very high temperatures.

Ceramic — Inorganic non-metallic materials whose formation is due to the action of heat. Ceramic is of four types: structural, refractories, whitewares and technical (fine ceramic).

Corundum — Corundum (from Tamil “kurundam”) is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide and one of the rock-forming minerals. Corundum for abrasives is mined in Zimbabwe, Russia, and India. Synthetic Corundum was first made in 1837.

Dry ice — It is solid Carbon Dioxide. First observed in 1825. Typically produced in two standard sizes - solid blocks and cylindrical pellets. It can be readily manufactured.

Glass powder — Glass is a non-crystalline material that can maintain indefinitely, if left undisturbed.

Silicon carbide — A ceramic compound of silicon and carbon. Manufactured on a large scale for use mainly as an abrasive. Also occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral Moissanite.

Super Abrasive — It is an abrasive having characteristically long life and high grinding productivity such as cubic boron nitride or polycrystalline diamond.

Bonded Abrasive — The abrasive material is contained within fine-grained mass of material, which is called matrix or binder. It is often in the form of clay, a resin, a glass or a rubber.

Coated Abrasives — It comprises of an abrasive fixed to a backing material such as paper, cloth, rubber, resin, polyester etc. Sandpaper is a very common coated abrasive.

[edit] Market Metrics

Top ten countries importing abrasives, 2005

Countries	     Volume (US $000)
United States	     168,406
Belgium 	     102,642
Ireland 	      93,138
Israel 		      84,945
Switzerland 	      80,827
Singapore 	      78,232
Italy 	 	      71,214
Japan 		      63,940
United Kingdom	      44,227
South Korea 	      41,149

Top ten countries exporting abrasives, 2005

Countries	     Volume (US $000)
Thailand             133,727
South Africa 	     126,952
United States 	     125,006
Singapore 	      74,960
Belgium 	      66,170
United Kingdom	      61,540
China 		      44,645
Switzerland 	      44,254
India 		      43,149
Hong Kong (China)     29,861

[edit] Industry Players

About 20 of the top 30 selling firms in the abrasives industry are subsidiaries and divisions of larger firms. Others are private companies. Of the industry's 75 leading companies, 84 percent are private corporations. Each of the industry's top 30 companies generates more than US $10 million and had at least 100 employees.

In late 90s, there were more than 400 US companies in the abrasives industry, about half of them employed 20 or more workers. The key player in the US abrasives industry in 2000 was the Norton Co. of Worcester, Massachusetts. It was indirectly a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain of France. Norton changed its name to Saint-Gobain Abrasives Inc. in 2001. Saint-Gobain Abrasives is the world’s leading manufacturer of abrasives. Worldwide, it employs 16,000 workers and operates 88 production facilities in the U.S. and 19 other countries. In the fiscal year ending December 2006, it registered sales of US $54 billion (32% higher than previous year) and an income of US$ 2.2 billion (48.2% higher than previous year).

Key competitors include

• Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. (Japan)
• Owens-Illinois Inc. (US)
• Wolseley plc (UK)
• 3M (US)
• Cabot Microelectronics Corporation (US)
• United Abrasives of (US)

The largest serving industry association for the abrasive industries is the Abrasive Engineering Society (AES) of Butler, Pennsylvania, established in 1957. The abrasive industry is served also by many smaller organizations, including Grinding Wheel Institute, the Abrasive Grain Association of Cleveland and the Coated Abrasives Fabricators Association.

[edit] Recent Trends and Developments

The total value of abrasive product shipments in the year 2000 was estimated at US $4.1 billion, down from US $4.7 billion in 1998. Capital investment in the sector during the year 1999 was estimated to be US $146.8 million, up from US $135.4 million in 1990.

It has been estimated that US abrasives demand will grow 3.5 % per year through 2009 and US demand for abrasives will reach US $5.4 billion..

Main drivers of new growth would likely include the following:

-  The increased demand for durables
-  Spread of the electric and electronic goods industries
-  More demand for higher value products (e.g., sol-gel abrasives, superabrasives) 
-  The ongoing development of newer uses such as chemical mechanical planarization (CMP)

Nonmetallic abrasive shipments are expected to outpace metallic shipments, although both types are anticipated to show modest improvement.

[edit] Sources

• Wikipedia
• Answers.com
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Fepa Abrasives
• Abrasive Engineering
• International Trade Center (UNCTAD/WTO)

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