Abrasives
Furnace-made grits of fused alumina, silicon carbide and steel shot that grind, cut, blast and polish nearly every manufactured surface.
Industrial minerals · No. 76
- Not on a critical list
Almost every polished, ground or sanded surface you touch was shaped by grit cooked in an electric furnace, mostly in China.
Chart: Illustration: Abrasives
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
These grits are made, not mined: bauxite or alumina is melted in arc furnaces, and silica sand is baked with petroleum coke to form silicon carbide.
Three things to know
- China holds about 800,000 t of the world's 1.3 million t of fused aluminium oxide capacity, roughly 62%.
- The US imported over 95% of its fused alumina in 2025, and China supplied 97% of crude silicon carbide imports over 2021-24.
- Making a tonne of silicon carbide releases at least 4.2 t CO2e, from the reduction reaction plus 7.15 MWh of electricity.
The journey
- 1 Raw materialsBauxite, alumina, silica sand, petroleum coke
- 2 FurnaceElectric-arc or Acheson furnace melting
- 3 CrushingCooled ingot or crystal mass broken
- 4 GradingSorted into standard grit sizes
- 5 ProductsGrinding wheels, sandpaper, blasting media