Use and Function of Glass Beads

Glass bead for road marking paint is a kind of fine glass bead formed by glass sand after high-temperature melting. The glass beads are colorless and crystal clear spheres without obvious bubbles or impurities. The refractive index of the glass beads for road marking used for road marking is 1.50-1.65, and the particle size is generally between 70 microns and 800 microns, so it is also called glass beads for road reflective. At present, the main production processes of glass beads for road marking in China are flame floating process and electrothermal melting process. Glass bead is a new kind of material which has been developed in recent years. The product is made of boron salt raw material through high-tech processing. The product has the advantages of light weight, low heat conduction, high strength, good chemical stability and so on. Its surface has the oil and water repellency after special treatment, and it is very easy to disperse in the organic material system.

Classification and use
According to different use conditions, the glass beads for road marking can be divided into two types: surface scattering glass beads and premix glass beads. Glass bead on the surface is used on the surface of the wet marking paint after the paint marks the road surface. The premix glass beads are uniformly mixed in the pavement marking coating before marking. Glass beads for road marking are mainly used in normal temperature and hot-melt road marking coatings. The premixed glass beads can ensure long-term reflection within the service life, while the glass beads on the surface can play a timely reflection effect.

Function
As the reflective material in road marking, the glass beads for road marking can greatly improve the reflective performance of road marking coating, so as to improve the safety of driving at night, which has been determined by the traffic departments of many countries. When the car runs at night, the light of lamp shining on the glass beads for road marking can make the light of lamp reflect back in parallel so that the driver can see the movement direction and improve the safety of driving at night. At present, reflective glass beads have become an indispensable reflective material in road safety products.