The role of glass beads in road markings

Road reflective glass beads are small glass beads formed by high-temperature melting of glass sand (waste glass) as raw materials. When observed under a microscope, they are spherical, colorless, and transparent, with a refractive index between 1.50 and 1.64, and a diameter generally between 75 microns and 1400 microns. Therefore, they are also called reflective glass beads. Due to its high roundness, good hardness, strong wear resistance, and directional reflective properties, it has been widely used in fields such as road reflective coatings.

Road reflective glass beads, as reflective materials in road markings (paints), can improve the retroreflective performance of road marking coatings and enhance the safety of nighttime driving, which has been determined by transportation departments in various countries. When a car is driving at night, the headlights illuminate the road markings with glass beads, which can cause the light from the headlights to reflect back in parallel, allowing the driver to see the direction of travel clearly, improving the visibility of the markings at night, and also improving the safety of driving at night. Nowadays, reflective glass beads have become an irreplaceable reflective material in road safety products.

Reflective glass beads for road use are mainly used in ambient temperature and hot melt road marking coatings. One type of pre mixed material can ensure long-term reflection of the marking during its service life; A type of surface spreading during marking construction that can provide instant reflective effect. The manufacturer of road marking paint reminds to pay attention to the ball shape rate of glass beads when selecting them. The sphericity of glass beads is required to be above. If there are too many irregularly shaped glass beads, they cannot form directional reflected light, which affects the reflective performance of the markings. However, if the shape rate of glass beads is too high, it will cause strong reflected light, which will cause great visual stimulation to the driver. Therefore, a small amount of irregular micro beads are required in the glass beads to produce diffuse reflection and soften the reflected light.