Quartz sand is a material that has a natural origin and is distinguished by such characteristics as chemical inertness, resistance to destruction, strength, as well as the possibility of sorption. Most often it is used in the filtration of oil products and water, for the production of finishing and building materials, as well as in the creation of pools. Now about everything in more detail.
Filtering ability
Quartz sand for filters is used much more often than any other natural material. The fact is that its porosity is much higher compared to ordinary crushed sand. This, in turn, provides it with higher dirt capacity and sorption capacity, so even elements such as manganese and dissolved iron are removed from the water. For the same reason, quartz sand for a pool, artificial pond or lake, or rather, for their filtration system, is almost always used. Recommended fractions in these cases are in the range from 0.4 to 6.0 millimeters.
Use in construction
Quartz sand is widely used in the construction industry, in particular, when creating polyurethane and epoxy floors. In this case, it should have a coarse-grained fraction. The use of this material in the manufacture of plaster and mortar is due to its high chemical resistance, mechanical resistance to crushing and abrasion, as well as color stability. Fine fractions are well suited for sandblasting in the processing of glass, concrete and metal. The material is also used in the manufacture of artificial stone.
Other areas
The use of quartz sand is not limited to all of the above. It is often used in the construction of greenhouse drainage systems, drilling water wells, as a top dressing for poultry, and also as a filler for electrical insulators and waterproofing material. Recently, this kind of sand can be found in aquarium and landscape design.
Production
Being a fairly common natural material, quartz sand does not directly enter the filters, building materials or other fields of application directly from the quarry. This can be explained first of all by the nuance that in order to solve certain problems it is necessary to select the appropriate fraction. In addition, in sand there is usually a large number of various impurities, and therefore the material needs preliminary processing, which is a rather complicated process.
Application features
Ready-to-use silica sand is preceded by several operations at once, including cleaning raw materials from impurities, drying, fractioning, dosing and packing. In this case, in no case should you underestimate the importance of the fraction for this material, because in certain industries (for example, in the manufacture of glass) it plays a key role. Another important criterion that characterizes quartz sand is the absence of a chemical reaction. This applies, first of all, to construction, because after the hardening of cement mortars or concrete undesirable consequences can occur.