The purchasing pace at the demand end of the international thermal coal market continues to slow down and the international thermal coal price continues to decline. Prices for thermal coal at major international ports continued to fall last week as buyers in Europe slowed in recent days for April, coupled with weaker-than-expected import demand from End users in China. According to China Coal Market net monitoring:  Australia Newcastle port thermal coal price index was 253 USD/ton, compared with 309.02 USD/ton, down 56.02 USD/ton, down 18.13%. South Africa's Port Richards thermal coal price Index was $264.5 / mt, down the US $62.72 / mt or 19.17% from US $327.22 / mt. The European ARA Tri-port thermal coal price Index was $281.8 / ton. Does the price of thermal coal in major international ports continue to decline to affect the price of the spherical quartz powder? 

Introduction to Spherical Quartz SiO2 Powder
Spherical quartz powder, also known as spherical silicon powder, refers to the amorphous quartz powder material whose individual particles are spherical and the main component is silica. It is white powder, has uniform particle size, good transparency, chemical stability, thermal stability, safety, and is insoluble in water. 
Spherical quartz powder is mainly used for coppers and epoxy plastic packing in large-scale integrated circuit packaging. It is also used in high-tech fields such as aerospace, fine chemicals, and daily cosmetics. 
 
Physicochemical Properties of Spherical Quartz SiO2 Powder
Spherical quartz powder has the advantages of a smooth surface, large specific surface area, high hardness, and stable chemical properties.
First of all, the spherical powder has good fluidity and can stir with resin to form a film evenly. The addition amount of the resin is small, and the filling amount of quartz powder is high. The mass fraction can reach up to 90.5%. The higher the filling amount of quartz powder, the lower the thermal conductivity, the smaller the thermal expansion coefficient of the plastic sealing material, the closer to the thermal expansion coefficient of monocrystal silicon, the better the performance of the electronic components produced.
Second, the stress of spherical powder is only 60% of that of angular powder, and the stress concentration of plastic sealing material made of spherical quartz powder is the lowest and the strength is the highest. Therefore, when the integrated circuit chip is encapsulated with spherical powder plastic packing material, the yield is high, and it is not easy to produce mechanical damage during transportation, installation, and use.
Third, the surface of the spherical powder is smooth, the friction coefficient is small, the wear of the mold is small, and the service life of the mold can be extended to more than 1 time.
 

Spherical Quartz SiO2 Powder Properties
Other Names	fused quartz, spherical quartz, spherical SiO2, silica
CAS No.	7631-86-9
Compound Formula	SiO2
Molecular Weight	60.09
Appearance	white powder
Melting Point	1,600° C (2,912° F)
Boiling Point	2,230° C (4,046° F)
Density	2533kg/m3
Solubility in H2O	insoluble
Exact Mass	59.9668

 

Spherical quartz powder Spherical SiO2
 

 
Preparation Methods of Spherical Quartz SiO2 Powder
The preparation methods of spherical quartz powder mainly include flame melting method, plasma heating furnace method, chemical synthesis method, and hydrolysis method. 
1. Flame melting method: The principle of ball forming is that a high-temperature flame gun ejects 1600-2000℃ high-temperature flame, when the powder enters the high-temperature flame zone, its angular surface absorbs heat and is molten, heat is further transferred to the inside of the powder, powder particles are completely molten.  Under the action of surface tension, the object always tends to the stable state, and the spherical state is the most stable state, so as to achieve the purpose of the product ball. 
2. Plasma heating furnace method: Hot plasma is also known as local thermodynamic equilibrium plasma, whose main feature is the temperature of the local electron (Te), the ion (Ti), and the gas (Tg) in the plasma are almost the same. Arc plasma, high-frequency plasma, and induction plasma all belong to thermal plasma. 
Using the high-frequency plasma melting method to prepare spherical quartz powder, moderate temperature range, stable control, and high yield can achieve a higher spheroidization rate, so it is a more suitable production method. Its principle and process and the principle and process of the flame melting method are similar, only with the difference that the high-temperature heat source is changed to a plasma generator. 
3. Chemical synthesis: At a certain temperature, the silica sol emulsion was treated with ammonia or ammonium bicarbose to get spherical gel, and then the gel was treated with acid to get hydrated spherical silica, and then refined and heat-treated to get spherical silica powder to meet the needs. It is characterized by low uranium content and the disadvantage is that the product is easy to agglomerate. 
4. Hydrolysis method: The liquid SiCl4 is added to the deionized water with different dispersants at a constant speed, and the hydrolysate is stirred at a high speed with a quartz rod at the same time. After aging, washing, and filtering, the hydrolysate is dried and dehydrated to constant weight in a constant temperature box of 100℃-200℃and transferred to the high-temperature sintering furnace. High purity spherical quartz powder with desired particle size can be obtained by high-temperature sintering dehydroxylation and crystal shape conversion at different temperatures.
 
Applications of Spherical Quartz SiO2 Powder
Because of the quartz powder’s high dielectric, heat resistance, moisture resistance, corrosion resistance, high filling rate, low stress, low impurities, low friction coefficient, low price, and other superior performance, it is widely used as substrate and packaging materials in large scale or very large-scale integrated circuit.
In addition, spherical quartz powder can also be widely used in electronic ink, optical fiber, high-grade cosmetics, high-grade precision ceramic manufacturing, optical devices, and electronic components of precision grinding, as well as used as special paint coating fillers. 
 
Main Supplier of Spherical Quartz SiO2 Powder
Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd. (TRUNNANO) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials, including silicon powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, calcium nitride, 3D printing powder, etc.
If you are looking for high-quality spherical quartz SiO2 powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. ([email protected])
 

The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the supply and prices of commodities is widening, and commodity prices remain at high levels. There is still great uncertainty about the future price of the spherical quartz powder.

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