What is Quartz Sand | How Many Types of Quartz Sand

What is Quartz Sand

Quartz sand is a kind of quartz particle formed by crushing quartzite. Quartzite, also known as siliceous rock, is a hard silicate mineral with stable chemical properties, In nature, quartzite exists in the form of quartz sandstone, quartz shale and vein quartz.

Quartz sandstone is a consolidated clastic rock with quartz clastic content over 95%, which comes from various magmatic rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks, less heavy minerals, and associated minerals are feldspar, mica and clay minerals; Quartzite shale is divided into sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks; Vein quartz is formed by hydrothermal process, almost all of which is composed of quartz.

Quartz sand is milky white, sometimes colorless and translucent, its Mohs Hardness is 7. It is important industrial raw material.

How Many Types of Quartz Sand

Quartz has high fire resistance. In industry, quartz sand is divided into ordinary quartz sand, refined quartz sand, high-purity quartz sand, fused quartz sand and silica fume.

1. Ordinary Quartz Sand

Ordinary quartz sand, that is, SiO2 ≥ 90-99%, Fe2O3 ≤ 0.06-0.02%, fire resistance 1750 ℃. Ordinary quartz sand is generally a kind of water treatment filter material made of natural quartz ore, which is crushed, washed, dried and secondary screened;

Ordinary quartz sand mainly used in metallurgy, silicon carbide, glass, enamel, cast steel, water filtration, foam alkali and sandblasting industries.

2. Refined Quartz Sand

Refined quartz sand SiO2 ≥ 99-99.6%, Fe2O3 ≤ 0.03-0.016%. It is made by complex processing of selected high-quality ore. Particle size range: 2-2500 mesh, can be produced according to the user’s requirements, white or crystalline appearance.

Refined quartz sand is mainly used for advanced glass, glass products, refractories, smelting stones, precision casting, grinding materials of grinding wheel, etc.

3. High Purity Quartz Sand

High purity quartz sand, SiO2 ≥ 99.5-99.9%, Fe2O3 ≤ 0.001%, made of high-quality natural quartz stone, carefully selected and finely processed. The particle size range is 0.005-0.01mm, 0.01-0.1mm, 0.1-0.5mm, 0.5-1mm.

High purity quartz sand is used to make glass, refractories, ferrosilicon smelting, metallurgical flux, ceramics, grinding materials, casting molding quartz sand and so on.

In the construction, it has strong anti acid medium erosion ability to make acid resistant concrete and acid resistant mortar.

4. Fused Quartz Sand

Fused quartz sand is a kind of filling material. Firstly, it oxidizes quartz sand by capacitance method, and then it is processed and screened by mechanical equipment. Finally, it becomes fused quartz sand. The fused quartz sand has thermal stability, high purity, stable chemical properties, uniform particle distribution, and thermal expansion rate close to 0 point.

Fused silica sand is used as filler in paint, coating and other chemical industries. It is also the main raw material for epoxy resin casting, electronic sealing materials, casting materials, fire resistance, ceramics and glass industries.

5. Silica Fume

The silica fume is processed from natural quartz and has large particle size range from 200 mesh to 10000 mesh. However, the fineness of silica fume is less than 0.001mm, accounting for > 80%, and the average particle size is 0.1-0.3 μm, which is a kind of dust state.

Silica fume is used in concrete and refractory materials, adhesives and sealants, electronic industry, plastics and modified resins, paint coatings, rubber materials, tires and rubber products, greatly improving material performance.

Different Types Quartz Sand Comparison