Other Markets

Some of diverse applications where 3M microspheres have demonstrated their usefulness include:

• Building materials: caulks, adhesives, cultured marble, mastics, paints, and roof coatings
• Lightweight plastics: injection molded thermoplastics, SMC, BMC, RIM, RTM, and pultrusion
• Aerospace and marine composites, potting compounds and radomes
• As exfoliating and density reduction agents in skin care and laundry products
• Wind mill blades to reduce weight of blades resulting in requirement of lower torque to rotate blades
• Sports Equipements – Golf balls and Bowling balls

Other application ideas range from oil field casing cements to trailer liner panels, from film antiblock to flotation devices and auto body putty.

In other applications, 3M™ Glass Bubbles are valued for their extreme strength, low density and chemical inertness – enabling a variety of enhancements for various products:

• High filler loading - the lowest surface area to volume of any shape increases volume loading capacity
• Low viscosity - acting like thousands of ball bearings, glass bubbles roll easily over one another
• Reduced dielectric constant - a natural insulator, they are especially useful in printed circuit boards
• Reduced warpage / shrinkage - in molded plastics, their high strength and spherical shape reduces warpage
• Machinability - the high strength of glass bubbles allows their use in injection molding
• Thermal insulation - low thermal conductivity makes glass bubbles excellent insulators
• Buoyancy - their low density and high strength is perfect for buoyancy applications at depth
• Weight reduction - Glass bubbles can be cost effective weight reducers in sealers, adhesives and molded plastic parts
• Low density fluids - in the oil and gas industry, glass bubbles are used to lower the density of drilling fluids and slurries