Advantages:
- High Hardness: Corundum is one of the hardest natural minerals, second only to diamond. This gives it excellent wear resistance, making it durable against high-intensity abrasion and scratching.
- High-Temperature Stability: Corundum remains stable at high temperatures and can withstand thermal shock, making it ideal for high-temperature processes and equipment in industries such as refining, ceramics, and electronics.
- Chemical Stability: Corundum is resistant to corrosion from acids and bases, making it suitable for the chemical and metallurgical industries.
- High Insulation: As an excellent insulator, corundum effectively blocks electrical currents, making it valuable in electronics, electrical, and communication fields for manufacturing insulators, capacitors, and circuit boards.
Disadvantages:
- Expensive: The complex mining and processing of corundum result in high production costs, limiting its widespread use in some fields.
- Brittleness: Despite its high hardness, corundum is very brittle. It can crack or deform under strong impacts or improper use, reducing its lifespan and reliability.
Applications:
- Abrasives and Grinding Tools: Due to its hardness and wear resistance, corundum is widely used as abrasives and grinding tools, such as sandpaper, grinding wheels, and cutting tools, playing a crucial role in metal processing and glass manufacturing.
- Ceramic Materials: Corundum’s excellent thermal stability and corrosion resistance make it ideal for manufacturing ceramic products like ceramic knives, pipes, and refractory materials.
- Optical Field: With good transparency and optical properties, corundum is used in optical instruments, camera lenses, and laser equipment.
- Electronics Industry: As an insulator, corundum is widely used in manufacturing electronic components such as capacitors, insulators, and semiconductor devices.
Summary: Corundum is a vital industrial material with advantages such as high hardness, high-temperature stability, chemical stability, and excellent insulation. Although its high cost and brittleness are drawbacks, its extensive applications in abrasives, ceramics, optics, and electronics make it indispensable in various industries, contributing significantly to their development.