AKJ MINCHEM PRIVATE LIMITED

Sukher, Surguja, Rajasthan

Feldspar is by far the most abundant group of minerals in the earths crust, forming about 60% of terrestrial rocks. Most deposits offer sodium feldspar as well as potassium feldspar and mixed feldspars. Chemically, the feldspars are silicates of aluminium, containing sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, or barium or combinations of these elements. Most of the products we use on a daily basis are made with feldspar: glass for drinking, glass for protection, fiberglass for insulation, the floor tiles and shower basins in our bathrooms, and the tableware

Feldspar properties:Basically, the two properties which make feldspars useful for downstream industries are their alkali and alumina content. Feldspars play an important role as fluxing agents in ceramics and glass applications, and also are used as functional fillers in the paint, plastic, rubber and adhesive industries. The glass &ceramic industriesare the major consumers offeldspar. This makes it a veryessential mineral in our day-to-day life.

Industrial Applications:

• Ceramic Industry : Ceramics Industry Feldspar is used as fluxing agent in all kinds of ceramics & glazes. In the manufacture of ceramics, feldspar is the second most important ingredient after clay. Since feldspar does not have a strict melting point it melts gradually over a range of temperatures. This greatly facilitates the melting of quartz and clays and, through appropriate mixing, allows to modulate this important step of ceramic making. Feldspars are used as fluxing agents, to form a glassy phase at low temperatures, and as a source of alkalies and alumina in glazes. They improve the strength, toughness, and durability of the ceramic body and cement the crystalline phase of other ingredients, softening, melting and wetting other batch constituents. In the flooring sector, feldspar is the main constituent in the body composition.

• Glass Industry :Both Sodium and Potassium feldspar is used in glass industry. Feldspar is an important ingredient in the manufacture of glass and an important raw material as well, because it acts as a fluxing agent, reducing the melting temperature of quartz and helping to control the viscosity of glass. The alkali content in feldspar acts as flux, lowering the glass batch melting temperature and thus reducing production costs. But feldspars are primarily added to glass batches for their alumina content, which improve hardness, durability, and resistance to chemical corrosion.

• Paints :Feldspar is used as a filler in paints & coatings industry. Feldspars are also used as fillers and extenders in applications such as paints, plastics and rubber. Beneficial properties of feldspars include good dispersability, chemical inertness, stable pH, high resistance to abrasion, low viscosity at high filler loading, interesting refractive index and resistance to frosting. The products used in such applications are generally fine-milled grades.
• Enamel frits and glazes:Feldspar enters in the enamel composition, assuring the absence of defects and the neatness of the end product: enamel frits, ceramic glazes, ceramic tile glazes, sanitaryware, tableware, electrical porcelain and giftware to name just a few.
• Other uses:in plastics & rubber industries as a filler, in mild abrasives, urethane, welding electrodes (production of steel), latex foam, as a welding rod coating , road aggregate