High Density Glass Microspheres

Barium Titanate Glass microspheres are high density solid glass spheres.  At a Density of 4.5g/cc these solid glass spheres can be used for many scientific applications where high density and optical clarity is needed.  In addition to high density they also offer an index of refraction of more than 1.9.

Bulk quantities are available in 30-100um and 0.3-1.0mm size ranges.

For experiments requiring the highest precision the beads can be purchased in classified grades offering >90% of the spheres within a specific size range.  Standard Sizes include the narrow ranges below.

38-45um, 45-53um, 53-63um, 63-75um, 75-90um, 90-106um, 0.25mm-0.3mm, 0.3mm-0.35mm, 0.36mm-0.42mm, 0.43mm-0.5mm, 0.5mm-0.6mm, 0.6mm-0.7mm, 0.71mm to 0.85mm, and 0.85mm to 1.0mm.

Product pricing and availability can be found under Cospheric’s BTGMS (barium titanate glass microspheres)

High Index of Refraction Retroreflective Glass Microspheres

Barium Titanate Glass Microspheres are excellent for use as a functional retro reflective additive  to paints and coatings.  Spheres with sizes of about 50 micron (~0.002 inches) mean diameter provide a small enough size for most coatings while offering a large enough size to reflective a significant amount of light.  Barium Titanate Glass Spheres are offered in both partially aluminum coated retro-reflective version for addition into transparent coatings, or as uncoated glass spherical powder for uses in colored paints.

Barium Titanate Glass microbeads offers one of the highest indexes of refraction with an IR greater than 1.9 which provides high intensity retroreflectivity from these spheres.

For those applications calling for a high density filler, barium titanate glass spheres offer a density of 4.5g/cc, that is almost double that of the more common soda lime glass spheres.   In addition to a high density, barium titanate glass spheres have a hardness of about 55-65 on the Gardner scale and a crush strength of over 30,000 psi (207 Mpa) making these spheres very durable in high wear environments.

The spheres offered by Cospheric as product ID:  BTGMS (uncoated ) and P2453BTA (aluminized) are produced in the USA, and are Lead free.

Advantages of Borosilicate Glass Microspheres in 0.03mm to 0.2mm sizing

BSGMS 63-75 micron at 40x magnification

High quality glass microspheres for research and development are always in high demand.  In an effort to better serve scientists Cospheric recently added a complete line of high quality borosilicate microspheres, and microbeads.

Borosilicate glass offers  advantages over standard soda lime glass microbeads.

• Roundness is >90%   (Soda lime >85%)
• Density is the lowest of most glasses at 2.2g/cc  (Soda Lime 2.5g/cc)
• Very low thermal expansion coefficient  32×10^-7/°C   (for 30-300°C)   (Soda Lime:  90×10^-7/°C)

The high roundness, and low thermal expansion make borosilicate spheres an excellent candidate for use as spacers in epoxy bond lines, or other applications which require stability over a wide temperature range.

Borosilicate glass spheres are now offered in narrow size ranges from 0.03mm to 0.2mm with greater than 90% of the particles in range.

Continue reading “Advantages of Borosilicate Glass Microspheres in 0.03mm to 0.2mm sizing” »

Magnetic Microspheres – New Size Ranges Offered

106-125um magnetic Microspheres

Cospheric announces new particle size ranges for its BKPMS, Paramagnetic Microsphere product.

Thanks to customer demand for narrower particle size ranges of paramagnetic microspheres.  These highly opaque microspheres are homogeneous PE and often used in microscopy for high contrast cross sections.

Cospheric has added the following sizes to its extensive inventory of microspheres offered in the dry powder form:

• 10-20 micron, 0.1 grams
• 20-27 micron, 0.5 grams
• 27-32 micron, 1.0 grams
• 32-38 micron, 5.0 grams
• 38-45 micron, 5.0 grams

These sizes are in addition to its extensive range of black magnetic microspheres available up to 1.0mm (1000 micron) in diameter.

Neutrally Buoyant in Water – Microspheres with Specific Gravity of 1g/cc

Cospheric offers polymer microspheres with specific gravity of 1g/cc are specifically designed to match the density of water for optimal suspension of particles. Suspension of microspheres in water enables the visualization and characterization of fluid flow and testing the capability of devices to withstand particulate matter in the fluid stream, ensuring that microspheres do not settle and do not float on the surface.  Most of these polymer microspheres are at least moderately opaque and clearly visible in water, clear or translucent liquids.

Many Colors are available in sizes from 10um up to 1180um,  of polyethylene microspheres are available with specific density of 1g/cc, designed for optimum suspension in water for fluid flow visualization.  Colors include Violet, Orange, Yellow, Fluorescent, Grey, Pink, Blue.