Quartz sand — a material consisting of small particles of quartz, extracted by natural (under the conditions of exposure to water and wind) or artificial crushing of mineral quartz rock. Its advantages include high mechanical strength of particles, their chemical inertia, durability and complete environmental friendliness. It is thanks to them that the material is actively used in various fields: in construction, industry, agriculture, landscape design, etc. D.
Premising and processing
To obtain quartz sand, two main methods are used: hydromechanical (in this way it is mined from the bottom of the rivers) and open (from quarries). After mining, the material goes through the process of enrichment. When conducting it, the sand is washed and cleansed of various extraneous impurities, which may be part of it. This is a costly and time -consuming process that greatly affects the cost of finished products, but it is almost impossible to do without it, because for different purposes you can use only the purified material. Unprofitable quartz sand has significantly lower consumer properties.
After enrichment, the sand passes drying at high temperature — about 800 degrees. And at the end of the preparation process, it is divided into fractions using sieve-gnawing. Its most popular fractions are:
1. Sand. It is a mixture of grains, the size of which varies in the range from 0, 1 to 0, 4 mm.
2. Coarse sand. Grain size-0, 5-1 mm.
3. Quartz flour. Grains have a size of less than 0, 1 mm.
4. Quartz baby. Its particles have a size of more than 1 mm.
The extraction and preliminary preparation of quartz sand are quite technological, laborious and costly procedures, so the material has a very high cost. However, its quality is high, which implies a wide set of positive consumer characteristics.
The main advantages
One of the main advantages of quartz sand is its durable granules, excellently tolerating mechanical loads in which they do not wear out and do not destroy. The material also has an enviable resistance to chemical effects and contact with external atmospheric factors.
Pure quartz sand has a homogeneous chemical composition — it consists of silica 99%. But in the unpeeled, there may be a wide variety of extraneous impurities: potassium, manganese, Ferruma oxide, field sleeper, clay, etc. D. In this case, the color of the material becomes red-brown or yellow. Pure quartz sand has milk or white.
We highlight the main consumer advantages of quartz sand:
1. Is monomineral (has a homogeneous chemical composition).
2. High intermediary porosity.
3. Characterized by high absorption properties and great dirtiness.
4. The material can be painted in various colors (for this, coloring substances are used based on epoxy and polyurethane epoxy resins).
5. Chemical inertia: quartz sand does not react with any chemicals.
6. Long service life. Sand grains do not abolish and do not destroy even with quite high mechanical loads, as they are quite strong.
7. Can be used to remove traces of corrosion from metal surfaces.
Classification
The versatility of quartz sand is achieved at the expense of several of its varieties, the classification of which can be carried out at once by several signs. The first — at the location. The following types of quartz sand are distinguished here:
1. River. Has the highest cost, which is due to its purity.
2. Nautical. In addition to grains of sand, Alevritic and clay particles contains, in addition to grains. Therefore, it is lower in comparison with river.
3. Ravine. Its particles have an angular shape and a rough surface. The composition contains a significant amount of land and silt. Most often included in the plasters and concrete solution.
4. Mountain. Characteristics are similar to ravine.
5. Soil (coglore). A particle of the mineral in its composition is hidden at once with two layers: clay and soil. Usually used for construction purposes.
In addition, quartz sand also differs in the production method. Types:
1. Hard (natural). It is formed during the destruction of quartz rocks due to the effects of such natural factors as wind, water and others. The material is called due to the fact that its particles have a rounded smooth shape.
2. Artificial. Get a crushing of quartz veins by crushing. In its production, the quartz breed explodes, after which the grains of the wrong (and often acute) shape are obtained, which are then divided into fractions. Characterized by monominerality, lack of extraneous impurities, mechanical strength and chemical inertia.
Another principle of the classification of quartz sand is the size of the grain where large (a mixture of grains, 0, 5-3 mm in size), medium (0, 25-0, 5 mm) and small (from 0, 05 to 0, 25 mm ) views.
