What Is The Use Of Cenosphere And Where Do We Get It?

The word cenosphere comes from two Greek words: kenos (hollow) and sphaira (sphere). Cenospheres are in fact hollow lightweight alumino-silicate bubbles. Cenospheres are also known as hollowspheres, microspheres, cennaspheres and hohlkugeln.

A cenosphere is a lightweight, inert, hollow sphere comprised largely of silica and alumina and filled with air and/or gases. Cenospheres are a naturally occurring by-product of the burning process at coal-fired power plants, and they have most of the same properties as manufactured hollow-sphered products. The color of cenospheres varies from gray to almost white and their density is about 0.4–0.8 g/cm3 (0.014–0.029 lb/cu in), which gives them a great buoyancy. 

Cenospheres are hard and rigid, light, waterproof, innoxious and insulative. This makes them highly useful in a variety of products, notably fillers. Cenospheres are now used as fillers in cement to produce low-density concrete.Recently, some manufacturers have begun filling metals and polymers with cenospheres to make lightweight composite materials with higher strength than other types of foam materials. Such composite materials are called syntactic foam. Aluminum-based syntactic foams are finding applications in the automotive sector.

Silver-coated cenospheres are used inconductive coatings, tiles and fabrics. Another use is in conductive paints forantistatic coatings and electromagnetic shielding.