Evaluation of the performance of abrasive nano and micro alumina particles in automotive paint polishing process

Alumina abrasive particles are the main components in the preparation of polish materials in automotive industries. It is suggested that both particle size and crystallite size of alumina particles can drastically alter the final properties of as-prepared polish materials. Here we report a systematic study on controlling both particle size and the crystallite size of alumina particles during the ball milling and annealing process, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the change in particle size and crystallite size can change polishing time, glossiness. We suggest an optimal architecture for the alumina particles consisting of micrometer sized particles size consisting of nanocrystalline structure. We propose that this structure can satisfy the high cycle life and high quality of the paint needed for automotive industries. More importantly, no hologram effect was observed applying the process proposed in our study. However, for after-sales services, in which, the process time is less important, larger particle size are recommended to eliminate the high roughness.