Light weight ceramic abrasive media

Abstract

A method for manufacturing abrasive tumbling media comprising discrete abrasive particles having a preselected size and shape made by firing a formed mixture primarily comprising a particulate ceramic material, which method comprises adding at least 10% of hollow ceramic microspheres to said mixture prior to firing to obtain particles having a final fired bulk density below 65 lbs/ft..sup.3. The ceramic material preferably comprises at least 30 percent clay and the hollow microspheres have a shell consisting essentially of from 58 to 65 weight percent silica and from 28 to 33 percent by weight alumina, a shell thickness of about 10% of the diameter of the microsphere and an average particle size of from about 50 to 100 microns. The invention further comprises an abrasive tumbling media comprising discrete abrasive particles having a preselected size and shape made by firing a formed mixture primarily comprising a particulate ceramic material including at least 10% of hollow ceramic microspheres and having a final fired bulk density below 65 lbs/ft..sup.3.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.