Zeeospheres™ Ceramic Microspheres Paints and Coatings Applications Profile

Eight ways to help you reduce costs while enhancing Zeeospheres Ceramic Microspheres are high-strength, inert fine particles with intrinsic hardness. Zeeospheres microspheres are engineered to help you reduce costs, increase solids, enhance properties, and improve processability.

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1. Lower viscosity and improved flow


Unlike many irregularly shaped fillers, Zeeospheres ceramic microspheres roll easily over one another, similar to ball bearings. This contributes to lower viscosity, better flow, and improved sprayability.

2. Higher filler loading to reduce costs

With the lowest surface area to volume ratio of any shape, Zeeospheres ceramic microspheres reduce resin demand and increase volume loading capacity. Smaller spheres may fill voids between larger ones to enhance packing for higher solids/lower VOCs, and reduced costs.

3. Burnish resistance and hardness


Mohs 7 hardness and spherical shape contribute to increased burnish resistance and hardness of the
finished surface. Surfaces stay new looking longer to save the time and cost of touch-ups or repainting.
With ordinary fillers, soft or jagged particles on the surface often break or wear away.

4. Gloss control

Many gloss control materials can increase viscosity. But increasingly higher levels of Zeeospheres ceramic microspheres can help incrementally lower gloss without significantly increasing viscosity in many applications.

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5. Barrier effect

Tight particle packing, combined with hardness and inertness, creates a durable, low-permeation film barrier against weather, corrosion and chemicals.

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6. Inert and free of crystalline silica

Because of their inert composition, Zeeospheres™ Ceramic Microspheres are resistant to a variety of chemicals. Solid ceramic microspheres are also free of crystalline silica (hollow microspheres are not).

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7. Radiation curable coatings

To help improve productivity and depth of cure for UV-curable coatings, Zeeospheres ceramic microspheres are UV transparent to 250nm. The microspheres allow transmission of the UV energy through the coating. Gray  ceramic microspheres also improve the viscosity and flow/leveling in E-beam coating applications.

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Radiation curable applications include:

• ​Potting compounds

• Patching compounds

• Wood coatings

• Overprints

• Powder coatings

• Adhesives

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8. Standard equipment for dispersing

With high compression strength, Zeeospheres ceramic microspheres are best added during the grind. For optimum dispersion, sand, ball and roll mills are preferred. Equipment wear has been reported to be less than many irregularly-shaped mineral fillers of equal or lower hardness.