1. The origin of glass beads as reflective materials

Glass beads have been used as reflective materials for decades. In 1950, Dr. Qifang Dong, a Chinese American scientist, developed directional glass beads, and subsequently developed a series of reflective materials such as reflective cloth.

In the early days, due to the weakness of chemical and other basic industries in China, special coatings, glass beads and other raw materials could not be resolved, and there was no complete production equipment, which limited the industrialization of reflective materials under certain conditions. Since the 1990s, domestic research on reflective materials has made great progress. Reflective fabric, reflective leather, reflective tape, and reflective heat transfer film have been introduced one after another. By the end of the 1990s, glass bead-type reflective products were basically mature in China.

2. Production principle and application field

The production process of glass beads is as follows: First, the raw materials are melted into glass liquid at a very high temperature, and the glass liquid passes through a special nozzle to form many mist-like droplets. These droplets automatically form regular patterns under the action of surface tension. Spherical, after cooling and then undergoing certain treatments, glass beads with a particle size distribution between 10-200 microns are obtained.

Many reflective materials can be made with glass beads, such as reflective cloth, reflective paint, reflective ink and so on. These materials are used in public security, transportation, fire protection, railways, coal mines and other departments. They can be seen in labor protection products and civilian products. Drivers driving at night are likely to cause traffic accidents due to the impact of the lights of the opposite vehicle, roadside lights, high-rise searchlights and advertising neon lights. The bright light emitted by the reflective material signboard under the illumination of the car lights is particularly eye-catching, which can remind the driver to pay attention to relevant road condition information and improve driving safety. The International Marine Life-saving Agency also stipulates that life-saving equipment must be equipped with reflective materials to facilitate night search and life-saving work. Many companies now use reflective materials to decorate their products, so that they have added safety features on the basis of aesthetics and practicality.