what is mica used for

1 year ago 45

Mica is a naturally occurring mineral that is used in a variety of products due to its unique properties. Here are some of the uses of mica:

Cosmetics: Mica is used in cosmetics due to its reflective and refractive properties, which make it an important ingredient in blushes, eye liner, eye shadow, foundation, hair and body glitter, lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, moisturizing lotions, and nail polish.
Plastics: Mica is used as a reinforcing material in plastic automobile fascia and fenders, providing improved mechanical properties and increased dimensional stability, stiffness, and strength. Mica-reinforced plastics also have high-heat dimensional stability, reduced warpage, and the best surface properties of any filled plastic composite. Mica is also used to produce shimmery plastic containers and high-quality inks used in advertising and security applications.
Electronics: Mica is used in electrical components, electronics, and atomic force microscopy. Technical grade sheet mica is used as window sheets, diaphragms for oxygen-breathing equipment, marker dials for navigation compasses, optical filters, pyrometers, thermal regulators, stove and kerosene heater windows, radiation aperture covers for microwave ovens, and micathermic heater elements. Mica is also mechanically stable in micrometer-thin sheets, which are relatively transparent to radiation (such as alpha particles) while being impervious to most gases. It is therefore used as a window on radiation detectors such as Geiger-Müller tubes.
Construction: Mica is used in gypsum wallboard joint compound, where it acts as a filler and extender, provides a smoother consistency, improves workability, and prevents cracking. In the paint industry, ground mica is used as a pigment extender that also facilitates suspension due to its light weight and platy morphology. Ground mica also reduces checking and chalking, prevents shrinkage and shearing of the paint film, provides increased resistance to water penetration and weathering, and brightens the tone of colored pigments. Ground mica is also used in the well-drilling industry as an additive to drilling “muds.” Mica sheets are used to provide structure for heating wire (such as in Kanthal or Nichrome) in heating elements and can withstand up to 900 °C (1,650 °F) .
Other uses: Mica is used as insulation material in electric cables, as a mold lubricant in the manufacture of molded rubber products, including tires, and as a reinforcing agent in the rubber industry. Specialized applications for sheet mica are found in aerospace components in air-, ground-, and sea-launched missile systems, laser devices, medical electronics, and radar systems. Mica is also used to make quarter and half wave plates.