What Is Silica Sand, And What Are Its Usages?

If you are thinking silica sand and playground sand are the same! 

You might be mistaken; silica sand and regular playground sand are not the same things.

So, let us tell you, what is Silica sand?

The term silica is used for Silicon dioxide (SiO2). The main mineral of Silica is quartz. Quartz is a crystalline form of Silica. Silica also occurs in non-crystalline form.

Silica sand is naturally the sand that you can get all over a beach, and it also happens to be the most commonly used sand. It is generally obtained by crushing the sandstone or found naturally on beaches or river beds.

Silica sand suppliers India says the term sand is used for natural particles ranging from 2mm to 0.06 mm. Silica sand is made up of natural quartz particles ranging in size from 2mm to 0.06mm.

Sometimes a lot of people think silica sand is just sand, but silica sand is mined, and it is a high concentration of quartz. As we all know, quartz is another term for Silica, and that's what we are using as plates.

Where do we find silica sand?

● It can be found in River sand in Malaysia, Thailand.

● It can be found in Beach sand in Australia, Vietnam.

● It can be seen as sandstones in Saudi Arabia. 

Uses of Silica sand

● Silica sand is a handy material, and it is very inexpensive. 

● Silica sand suppliers India says that it can be utilized as clay to use the fine grog. 

● You will not feel it as a coarse grog because the particles are much smaller. 

● It can make clay that might be very plasticky and not good at vertical pieces and make them thinner. 

● It will give you structural integrity if you wedge a little silica sand on soft stoneware. 

● It can be used - if you want a little grog in a lump of porcelain clay, and it will handle the temperature. 

● For many industrial uses, we need silica sand with greater than 97 % SiO2. 

● Various types of glass can be produced from silica sand.

● Cristobalite is produced by heating silica sand.

● Silicon carbide can be produced by silica sand, but silicon cannot be produced by silica sand; it can be produced by lump quartz.

● Silica sand suppliers India produces processed silica sand of various qualities by enhancing sio2 content and reducing impurities. 

● They also produce various grades of silica sand by particle size distribution.

● Kaolin can be produced as a by-product of silica sand mining if it is feasible. 

● Production of silica flour is in line with processing silica sand. Many end-users like to buy silica flour as they don't want to invest in a grinding system.

● Silica sand is the primary component of all conventional and specialty glass manufacturing.

● The Color, transparency, and strength of glass are entirely related to the purity of silica sand.

● A combination of modern technology and high-quality Silica is used to formulate smartphones' solid and durable glass.

● Drinking water filtration, wastewater processing, and purification of healthy water require unique grades of silica sand in terms of chemical composition, particle size distribution. 

● Due to its inertness, silica sand does not react with water during filtration. 

● Industrial sand finds its application in unconventional oil and gas production. 

● A silica sand quarry can produce many products.

● Many silica sand products can be produced for various markets by screening and producing different particle size distributions.

● Each product can be given a name or a number. Silica flour is produced by grinding processed silica sand. The best method to produce silica flour is grinding sand in a ball mill.

Silica Sand Is Used To Make Plates.

The primary purpose for which we use silica sand is to make plates. The plates have a lot of surface area that is going to be touching the kiln shelf. The reason being is because the thing you have to keep in mind is that when the kiln shelf and plate's surface is at a peak temperature, they both are hot, and the problem is how they are going to be calm and depending on how big you make your plates or how small all that sort of thing. 

They might cool at different rates and what will happen is - you will have a shifting as the two pieces of ceramic cool. They might cool at different rates and what could happen is - you could crack your plates which would be horrible, so what you can do is - you can even see a little residual, so take some silica sand, put it on a kiln shelf, and then spread the silica sand using your hands and level it out.

You will not require a whole lot; take only a quarter of a scoop. Then set your plate; you will see many little bitty ball bearings. As the plate contracts during the cooling stage of the kiln, it can slide microscopically across the silica sand versus trying to contract with a hot shelf underneath it.

Silica Sand Is Used To Get Glaze Drips.

The other area where you can use silica sand for is - if you know you are going to get a lot of glazes drips so what can you do is - take a mug or something like that, and you can make the pile of silica sand a little higher and a little thicker and then set the mug in there. 

Now what will happen is that the glaze on a runny one will drip down and hit the sand, beat up, and then stay there. The glazing bead will be there with a little bit of sand melted to the bottom.

Final words

Thus, silica sand is nothing but normal sand that is found on beaches or rivers. But it has many uses industrially and also for other purposes like water filtration etc.