the differences between silica fume and silicon micro powder

Microsilica powder and silicon micro powder are two distinct products are confused easily because they are very close in name and sometimes they can be substituted for each other in a small part of the applications. In fact, it is easy to distinguish about microsilica powder and silicon micro powder.

1.Micro silica should be derived from its English name, but silica fume is more in line with the characteristics of this product. Micro silica is the by-product-smoke in the process of producing ferro alloys. After the physical collection process, the resulting product is recovered. Therefore, some people call it “dust removal ash”. However, the silicon micro powder formation is entirely a physical process. The silica mine from quartz mine is ground to give a very fine powder and it is often measured in units of “mesh”.

2.From the chemical composition, the main content of the two products is SiO2, the micro silica powder is usually between 80% abd 97% as well as other impurities such as CaO, Na2O and Cl and so on, and the content of impurity is relatively high. However, the purity of silicon micro powder is very high, usually above 99% and silicon micro powder contains little impurities.

3.From the perspective of quality stability, microsilica powder is a by-product of the production process of ferro alloys. And the quality is unstable due to many factors in production. But the quality of the silicon micro powder depends on mainly the content of the ore and the quality is relatively stable.

4.From production cost, silicon micro powder has to undergo physical crushing and grinding. The higher the fineness, the higher the cost. Micro silica powder is naturally formed during the production process and the cost is relatively low.

5.From applications, microsilica powder is mainly used in the building materials industry which is mainly used to increase strength. While silicon micro powder is another industry such as electronics. Of course, the two products can be replaced in some industries.