Talc

Product Details

What is Talc?

• Chemistry: Mg3Si4O10(OH)2, Magnesium Silicate Hydroxide

• Class: Silicates

• Subclass: phyllosilicates

• Group: Clays and also The Montmorillonite/ Smectite Group.

• Uses: an ornamental and heat, acid and electrically-resistant stone (soapstone) used as counter tops, electrical switchboards, carvings, etc, used as an ingredient in paints, rubber, roofing materials, ceramics and insecticides. Most commonly known as the primary ingredient in talcum powder.

Talc is an important industrial mineral. Its resistance to heat, electricity and acids make it an ideal surface for lab counter tops and electrical switchboards. It is also an important filler material for paints, rubber and insecticides. Even with all these uses, most people only know talc as the primary ingredient in talcum powder. Mineral specimens are not very common as it does not form very large crystals. However, it often replaces other minerals on an atom by atom basis and forms what are called pseudo morphs (false shape). The talc takes the form of the mineral it replaces. A specimen of what looks like milky quartz is quite a surprise when it not only has a soapy feel but can be scratched by a fingernail.

Talc Industrial Applications

Talc is one of the most important industrial minerals and is the most common mineral for daily use as a body and face powder. Talcum Powder, the name derived from the mineral itself, is used in most urban homes the world over. The invention of perfumed talcum powder has been a contributing factor in the growth of modern fashions in cosmetics. The use of talc was known to civilisations in antiquity. The ancient craftsmen of the Mohenjodaro and Harappa civilisation, (in Sind, now in Pakistan), about 5000 years ago, exercised their skill on steatite, engraving their seals with representations of animals and mythological signs, before subjecting the carving to heat to acquire hard, white lustrous, enamelled surfaces. Small sculptures, ornate bosses and vessels were also made from the mineral during those early times.

Pulverized talc has wide industrial applications as filler in rubber, textile, plastic, linoleum, asbestos products, polishes and soaps; as a loading agent for paper of all kinds; as a carrier of insecticidal and pesticidal dusts and for coating calcium ammonium fertiliser. Most of the rubber manufacturers use talc powder as a lubricant to prevent ungalvanized rubber goods from sticking. The purer variety of steatite after calcination, industrially called 'Lava' is used in the manufacture of law loss ceramic materials required for high frequency insulations in all kinds of radio, television and related instruments. Bricks made out of crushed steatite bonded by sodium silicate are used for ssthe manufacture of furnaces in which argentiferous lead is softened before desilverising. Paper industry accounts for about 50% of the total consumption, in the domestic industry, 15% is shared by the insecticide and pesticide industries and only 3% by talcum powder manufacturers. The remaining quantity is consumed in textile, ceramics, paints, rubber, foundry facing and other industries.