Following the progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, the gold price fell more than 1% the next day, hitting its lowest in a month, and palladium prices briefly tumbled by nearly 9%.

"We have seen metal prices going into free fall when the Russia-Ukraine situation is likely to see a major detente, which spurred people's risk preference and optimism that the war could end at a time," said OANDA senior market analyst.

A Russian deputy defense minister says Moscow has decided to sharply curtail its military activities around Kyiv and Chernikov in Ukraine, following talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul.

Where the prices of metals, natural gas, and commodities like the Hollow Glass Beads will go in the future, is still very uncertain.

What is hollow glass microsphere? 

Hollow glass microspheres, sometimes termed microballoons or glass bubbles, have diameters ranging from 10 to 300 micrometers. Hollow spheres are used as lightweight fillers in composite materials such as syntactic foam and lightweight concrete. The hollow glass bead is a kind of specially processed glass bead, which is mainly characterized by smaller density and poorer thermal conductivity than glass bead. It is a new kind of micron-grade light material developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Its main component is borosilicate, with a general particle size of 10~250μm and a wall thickness of 1~2μm. Hollow glass beads are characterized by high compressive strength, high melting point, high resistivity, small thermal conductivity and thermal shrinkage coefficient, etc., and they are known as the "space-age material" in the 21st century.
Hollow glass microspheres, also known as bubbles, microbubbles, or micro balloons, are usually formulated from borosilicate - sodium salt glass mixtures and offer the advantages of low density, high heat and chemical resistance. The walls of glass microspheres are rigid and are usually about 10% thick of the diameter of the spheres. At present, spherical particles have a wide range of densities, from as low as 0.06g/ C3 to as high as 0.80g/ C3, with particle sizes ranging from 5um to 180um. The compressive strength of the hollow sphere is determined by the wall thickness of the hollow sphere and, as expected, the greater the density of the sphere, the higher the compressive strength.The lightweight hollow glass sphere is chemically stable, non-flammable, non-porous, excellent water resistance. TRUNNANO is a trusted global Hollow Glass Sphere Hollow Glass Beads supplier. Feel free to send an inquiry about the latest price of Hollow Glass Sphere Hollow Glass Beads at any time.

Product Performance of Hollow Glass Sphere Hollow Glass Beads:
Hollow glass microspheres are micron-level hollow glass microspheres with a smooth surface. The main chemical component is borosilicate glass, and it is a hollow transparent sphere under the electron microscope. Hollow glass beads have low density, high strength, high temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, low thermal conductivity, electrical insulation and other properties. They have good fluidity and chemical stability, and they are multi-functional frontier new materials across fields.

How are Hollow Glass Sphere Hollow Glass Beads Produced? 
How do you make glass microspheres?
1. Glass powder method
The glass powder method uses pre-prepared glass powder containing gases such as SO3 to pass through the flame at the temperature of 1100-1500℃. At this time, SO3 and other gases dissolved in the glass powder overflow from the inside of the glass due to the decrease in solubility and the change in the atmosphere of the kiln. At the same time, the glass powder becomes spherical under high temperature due to the surface tension. The spillage gas is sealed in the spherical particles to form hollow glass beads.
2. Spray granulation method
Spray granulation method is made in advance with special auxiliary reagent (boric acid, urea, ammonium pentaborate) aqueous solution of sodium silicate, and then through the nozzle to the solution injection into the spray dryer, is expected to drop after drying to get a certain particle size of powder particles, the final will be powder particle heating foam-forming hollow glass beads.
3. The droplet method
The liquid drop method adopts the same raw materials as the spray granulation method. The raw materials are 500 copies of sodium silicate (M (SiO2): M (Na2O) =2), and the same amount of 10% ammonium perborate aqueous solution is added. After mixing evenly, the hollow glass beads are sprayed into the spray drying tower.
4. Dry gel method
The alkyl salt was added to dilute hydrochloric acid and decompose with water. After gelation, the gel was dried in two stages at 60℃ and 150℃ and then crushed by a ball mill. After grading, the dried gel powder was obtained, which was foamed in a vertical electric furnace at 1280℃ to prepare hollow glass microspheres.
 
Applications of Hollow Glass Sphere Hollow Glass Beads:
Hollow glass microspheres are widely used in glass fiber reinforced plastic products, composite foam plastic, artificial marble, compound wood, sound insulation heat preservation material, atomic ash, deep-sea buoyancy, bowling, low-density cement, sealing material, lightweight, resin handicraft, the mural wall hanging frame, wall plate sandwich layer structure of lightweight packaging materials, electronic industry, absorbing material, lightweight concrete, such as emulsion explosive.
Hollow glass microspheres also provide a conductive coating. Conductive coatings of optimized thickness provide spherical particles with excellent conductivity and shielding properties while maintaining the weight savings associated with hollow, low-density materials. These conductive microbubbles are suitable for military applications, biotechnology, medical devices, electronics and other special industries.
Hollow glass beads have obvious weight reduction and sound insulation and heat preservation effect so that the products have good cracking resistance and reprocessing performance, is widely used in engineering plastics, insulation materials, rubber, buoyancy material, FRP, artificial marble, man-made agate, generation of composite materials such as wood, and the oil industry, aerospace, communications, 5 g new high-speed trains, cars, ships, in areas such as thermal insulation coatings, adhesives, vigorously promote the development of science and technology.

Packing & Shipping of Hollow Glass Sphere Hollow Glass Beads:
We have many different kinds of packing which depend on hollow glass spheres quantity.
Hollow glass spheres packing: 1kg/bag, 25kg/barrel, or 200kg/ barrel.
Hollow glass spheres shipping: could be shipped out by sea, by air, by express as soon as possible once payment receipt.

Prior to the impact of COVID-19 on the chemicals and materials industry and the price of the Hollow Glass Beads, many industry observers expected low to flat growth in 2021 in all regions outside Asia, with many countries seeing slower growth compared to recent years. Operational excellence has long been a hallmark of the Hollow Glass Beads chemical industry, and many companies are financially able to withstand short-term dips in end-market demand due to rapid leverage from reduced capex on hand.

The analysis shows that, whatever the final course of the pandemic, we can expect the inevitable long-term effects. Workplaces are expected to slowly return to pre-COVID-19 practices. Companies investing in enterprise-wide digital initiatives saw these "payoffs" in the early pandemic environment. For more information about Hollow Glass Beads, please feel free to contact us.

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