Dicaperl®
Hollow Glass Microspheres
Dicaperl® is a family of lightweight, hollow glass bubble fillers produced and marketed worldwide by Grefco, Inc. Available in a variety of particle size ranges, with or without surface modifications, Dicaperl® is a very cost effective density reducing filler for any resin/binder system.
Silane-modified Dicaperl® functional fillers substantially reduce weight, reduce shrinkage, improve impact, nailing, stapling, and sanding properties of molded parts. The finest grades are used in RP/Composites including glass fiber reinforced products formed by both spray-up and hand lay-up production processes, where surface detail is critical. The coarser grades are used in cast or molded parts not requiring ultra-fine surface appearance.
Fine particle size, unmodified grades of Dicaperl® are quite effective as thickening, and anti-sag additives in specialty coatings. The coarser grades are used to produce texture and acoustical coating mixes, block filler paints, etc.
Dicaperl® products are available in a range of densities, degrees of whiteness and strengths to suit most formulating requirements. Two proprietary coating processes are used, resulting in two distinct series of products, the standard “10 Series” and the high performance “20 Series”.
The physical characteristics of the Dicaperl® grades are tabulated below.
Dicaperl® Product Summaries
|
Product grade |
HP-110 |
HP-210 |
HP-510 |
HP-710 |
HP-910 |
|
Particle Shape |
Bubble |
Bubble |
Bubble |
Bubble |
Bubble |
|
Average Particle Size (micron) |
310 |
110 |
70 |
65 |
50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Particle Size Distribution, Ro-tap-U.S. Standard Sieves, Cumulative Wt.% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
No. 50 |
55 |
20 |
0.5 |
Tr. |
Tr. |
|
100 |
85 |
50 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
|
325 |
95 |
90 |
85 |
85 |
90 |
|
Pan |
5 |
10 |
15 |
15 |
10 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Effective Density (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
lbs/ft³ |
11.0 |
11.5 |
14.0 |
14.7 |
15 |
|
g/cm³ |
0.18 |
0.18 |
0.25 |
0.25 |
0.24 |
(1) In Polyester resin
All Dicaperl® “Series 10 and Series 20” products are white, surface modified materials with a softening point of approximately 1000°C (1800°F) and a surface pH of 7. The surface modification is comparable to that obtained with conventional silanes containing organic functions such as amino, vinyl, cyclic epoxy, aliphatic epoxy, methacryloxy and mercapto groups. Unmodified grades designated HP-100, HP-200, HP-500, HP-700 and HP-900 are also available.
