About us

Saint-Gobain Abrasives is the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of performance engineered abrasives for technical manufacturing and commercial applications as well as general household and automotive refinishing solutions. Taking innovation and expanding it's reach to all segments of the market, from long run production to plant maintenance operations, construction sites, autobody repair or home renovations – Saint-Gobain Abrasives offers the right products for the job.

Whether you want to trim, sharpen, grind, clean, polish metal or nonferrous surfaces or sand and finish wood, Saint-Gobain Abrasives offers best-in-class bonded, coated and super abrasive products for all industrial, construction, automotive repair and DIY applications. Saint-Gobain Abrasives in South Africa is best known for the Norton, Clipper and Flexovit brand (formerly Carborundum), 3 leading brands that have a reputation for innovation, quality & performance.

Product info

Saint-Gobain Abrasives is the only international manufacturer of abrasives that provides each of the 3 major types of abrasives; Bonded Abrasives (resinoid and vitrified), Coated Abrasives, and Diamond products.

Coated Abrasives

Coated abrasives are often referred to as “sandpaper” although they are not made with sand and most often are not backed with paper. Coated abrasives are formed by gluing natural and synthetic abrasive grains. Abrasive grains include aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, zirconia alumina, garnet and emery. Backing materials include paper, cloth, fibre and polyester film. Coated abrasives are manufactured in “jumbo” rolls then cut into different shapes such as belts, discs, rolls and sheets for surface-treatment and polishing applications in markets such as the furniture, lumber, cabinet, boat, automotive, welding, foundry, jewelry, and do-it-yourself markets. Saint-Gobain is one of the world's leading coated abrasives manufacturers.

Bonded Abrasives

Bonded abrasives are natural or synthetic abrasive grains "bonded" into a solid form, usually in the shape of a wheel. Bonded abrasives products also include grinding and cut-off wheels, snagging wheels, segments, mounted wheels, plugs, and cones.

Saint-Gobain produces more than 250,000 types of grinding wheels - with diameters ranging from just a few millimeters to nearly 2 meters - designed to meet specific needs of our customers. Vitrified - or synthetic - wheels are made of clay-based binder for precision grinding, sharpening, forming and finishing applications in the automotive, aerospace, and machine tool sectors. Organic - or natural - wheels are made with rubber, shellac or plastic bonds for cutting and forming applications in markets such as primary metals, welding, and metal fabrication. Organic wheels can also be used to obtain very precise dimensions in rolling mill cylinders and machining hypodermic needles.

Cutting-Off & Grinding Wheels

Thin wheels are a class of bonded abrasive wheels that are 1mm to 6mm thick. These wheels utilize resin bonds and can be reinforced with fiberglass.
They are used in markets such as the welding, pipe, construction, foundry and primary metal markets for snagging and cutting ferrous and nonferrous materials including cast iron, stone, aluminum, copper, stainless steel and brass. Our product range includes portable grinding and cut-off thin wheels, as well as fixed cut-off thin wheels. Manufacturers and maintenance end-users find speed, comfort and safety in our latest ultra-thin cut-off discs - 1mm thick - as they allow quick and precise cuts with less effort. With 200 million pieces produced every year, we are the world's biggest manufacturer of thin wheels.

Super Abrasives Superabrasives are grinding and cutting wheels, tools, compounds, slurries, belts and discs that incorporate diamond or CBN abrasives. Made of resin, metal, plated or vitrified bonds. Our superabrasives are used in precision grinding, applications including edging automotive, architectural or crystal glass, and ceramic components; shaping engine and transmission components, such as cam and crankshaft; slicing silicon wafers or sharpening circular saws and other woodworking tools. For the construction market, our diamond blades are used to cut concrete, stone, tile and other building materials. Our wheels vary in diameter from as small as 3mm (0.125 inches) to as large as 800mm (32 inches). Saint-Gobain Superabrasives also provides a range of dressing tools and devices to sharpen and shape superabrasive and conventional bonded abrasive wheels. Dressing tools, either stock or made-to-order, are produced using synthetic to "near-gem-quality" diamonds. Our rotary dressing tools, spindles and infeed devices are used in high-volume precision-production grinding applications, often to the micron level (0.001mm). This level of precision engineering requires climate-controlled manufacturing facilities and sophisticated measuring equipment. Our dressing devices are used to true, dress and form all types of grinding wheels.

Construction Products

Saint-Gobain Abrasives have established two leading brands that are synonymous with diamond products for the construction industry. The CLIPPER brand covers a range of machinery including masonry saws, floor saws, tile saws and core drills. The NORTON brand covers the consumable diamond products, used on the CLIPPER machines,
including laser welded diamond blades and core bits.

Saint-Gobain Abrasives is at the forefront of technical developments of machinery and diamond tools for the sawing, drilling and cutting of building materials. In the early eighties, NORTON revolutionised the construction and building industry with the development of laser welding of diamond segments to the steel core, allowing the products to be used dry for the first time on a wide range of construction materials. The introduction of laser welded diamond blades greatly increased safety and made the products more versatile in the applications they could be used on.