Calcium carbonate is the most widely used extender, pigment or filler in plastics. It is used in a variety of polymers, from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene, polyethylene, phenolic, epoxy resin, polyester, polyurethane, ethylene propylene diene (EPDM) compounds, to styrene and polyamides.
Purified ground calcium carbonate is the highest volume in plastics. It is purified by removing iron and silica to minimize plastic degradation and finely ground to give loaded plastics high physical properties at the lowest possible cost.
Average particle diameters range from 1 to 10 µm. Plastic compounds of all colors, from white plastics with titanium dioxide to black plastics with carbon black, can be produced with minimal interference from calcium carbonate.
Precipitated calcium carbonate is a synthetic form obtained by the re-carbonization process. This type is available in high purity grades with very fine particle sizes. It has the same or greater specific gravity, and the average size of the particles varies from 0.7 to 2 µm. Very fine particle sizes are used for plastisols and polyesters.
paper and textile industry:
It is used as a reagent in the wood digestion process to obtain pulp or cellulose in paper manufacturing. In the textile industry, lime acts as a neutralizer and precipitates of dissolved solids in the water in the finishing process of cotton textiles.
