Coated abrasives Manufacturing    Coated abrasives give users the best value and results for finishing the surfaces of a wide variety of materials. They consist of a backing – typically paper, cloth, fiber or film – to which abrasive grains are attached and anchored by an adhesive bond. The choice of abrasives used depends on the workpiece properties and type of treatment and ranges from garnet, emery, silicon carbide to various forms of aluminum oxide, such as white aluminum oxide, semi-friable aluminum oxide, zirconia alumina and ceramic aluminum oxide. Coated abrasives are made in a continuous process on production lines known as ‘makers’, which can be up to 300 meters long. The abrasive grains are usually applied by an electrostatic process. These can be natural or synthetic minerals, such as silicon carbide or a variety of aluminum oxide, according to the use of the abrasives. A second layer of adhesive bond, called the size coat, is applied to anchor the abrasive grains securely. The abrasive web is cured in a drying chamber and passed to the end of the production line where it is wound into jumbo rolls weighing up to 2,500 kilos. Throughout the manufacturing process, electronic measurement systems monitor the consistency of the different application operations and guarantee uniform quality.