Markets
and Industries
Manufactured from a range of substances and chemicals, and each with their own different properties, adhesives can be used for bonding a huge variety of materials. Whether you require a waterproof adhesive, or one that will bond glass, it is important to choose the right adhesives for the job.
This will generally depend on the conditions where the bonding will take place, the surface to which it is being applied, and the strength of hold required. To this end, many adhesives are developed, and produced to bond specific materials.
Ceramics
Ceramics are essential to our daily lifestyle. Ceramic and materials engineers are in the process of creating new types, and finding new and different uses for ceramic products in everyday life. This includes ceramic tiles, bricks, crockery, glass, and can also be found in diverse products such as watches, snow skies, automotive parts, and telecoms infrastructure.
Typically, they will demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties; however, they are often brittle in nature. Ceramic clays are generally manufactured by taking mixtures of clay, earthen elements, powders, and water for general use.
Coatings
Coatings serve a wide range of applications with both decorative and practical properties, protecting surfaces such as wood, metal, and concrete. Decorative coatings are used to provide high gloss, satin, matt finishes. Coatings are especially used within the automotive and transport industry both for enhancement and protection surfaces, and components.
A coating’s formulation will depend on the required function, and any desirable aesthetics, but the four primary components are a resin binder, filler system, pigments and the additives package. The Agility Minerals range is focussed around anti-corrosion, chemical resistance and performance coatings.
Construction
Industrial minerals are key components in the construction industry. In general combinations of materials with cement are used to produce common construction products such as plasters, bricks, insulation, adhesives and sealants.
Through the use of specialist additives it is possible to protect these products from potentially damaging moisture ingress.
Elastomers
Elastomers are polymers that display both viscosity and elasticity, referred to as viscoelasticity. They exhibit the unique property of regaining their original shape and size after being significantly distorted or stretched. Elastomers are broadly divided into natural and synthetic categories. Elastomers are used extensively in adhesives, mass transit, sealing applications, medical and flame retardant component manufacturing.
Elastomers are hugely useful in multiple industry applications, primarily because of their inherent properties including a wide operational temperature range, tensile strength, abrasion resistance, impermeability. From car tyres to shoe soles, vibration mounts to turbo hoses, and gas seals to car door seals, elastomers are found in most walks of life.
Life Sciences
Natural minerals are widely used in the healthcare, agriculture, consumer goods, packaging, and in the food and drinks industries. The health and personal care sectors are actively exploring natural ingredients and minerals to replace existing chemical additives with those that offer lower environmental impact, and are sustainably sourced.
For personal care, engineered minerals aim to improve formulations, offering effective natural mineral alternatives to synthetic ingredients in cosmetics, body scrubs, shampoos, deodorants, creams, and gels.
Plastics
In the manufacture of plastics, minerals are used for reinforcement, abrasion resistance, improving the chemical resistance, pigment extension, impact resistance and in some case just as fillers to control costs. In the quest to make them more environmentally friendly, and the demand for natural mineral additives for the plastics sector is experiencing the highest level of growth across all markets.
Although the paper and board industries still dominate the usage of minerals, plastics have grown substantially over the past decade or so from a minor market to the second largest end use today.
Polishing
The abrasives used for polishing today are largely precision-manufactured, however naturally sourced mineral abrasives continue to be used. The best abrasive minerals are not only hard, but also tough, and sharp. The sources for these minerals need to be plentiful, and pure. There aren’t many minerals available that share all of these qualities. Abrasives are used extensively in a wide variety of industrial, domestic, and technological applications.
This in turn requires a huge variation in physical, and chemical composition. Common uses include grinding, polishing, and buffing, with softer minerals such as calcium carbonate being used as abrasive “polishing agents” in toothpaste.
Get in touch…
Thank you for your interest in Agility Minerals. If you would like further information about us, or to make an enquiry, please complete the contact form and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.
Please note that all fields are mandatory.