DH Glass Beads

• Made of reclaimed scrap glass.
• Comes in 50 pound bags and 2000 pound pallets. Pricing per individual pound is also available.
• Contains no free silica.

Glass beads are one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to increase the visibility of road markings and promote better safety for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians alike. When integrated into traffic paint, the tiny, sand-like grains of glass will not compromise the paint’s stability, coloration, or ability to adhere to surfaces.
However, if light is shined upon the marking, the embedded glass will reflect it, giving the marking an illuminated appearance. Glass beads are an ideal choice for roadways and streets with little ambient light and/or poor nighttime visibility, as they’ll “catch” and amplify the small amounts of light provided by car and bicycle headlamps—even in rainy or foggy weather conditions.
Transline is proud to carry Potters® brand glass microspheres. Our reflective glass beads meet or exceed every adopted highway safety marking sphere standard in effect today. And because they’re made of reclaimed industrial cullet, they’re the environmentally friendly, choice, too!
Standard Highway Safety Marking Spheres can be applied as drop-on spheres in all commercial applications—water-borne paint, epoxy, polyester, thermoplastic, PMMA, polyurethane, polyurea and VOC-compliant paints.

How to Use

Estimate about 6 pounds of glass beads per 1 gallon of paint. Beads can be applied as drop-on spheres in all commercial applications. Popular uses include integration with water-borne paint, epoxy, polyester, thermoplastic, PMMA, polyurethane, polyurea, and other VOC compliant paints.
In their raw, fresh-out-the-bag state, beads may produce a fine dust. Inhaling excessive amounts of this dust can cause respiratory irritation, especially for people living with chronic lung conditions. Wear a NIOSH-approved dust mask or respirator when pouring or stirring beads; if respiratory irritation occurs (e.g., coughing, shortness of breath, sinus pain), afflicted people should leave the area and breathe in fresh, clean air immediately.
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Road Markings
Whenever you are driving your car at night, glass beads present on road markings act as tiny reflectors which send the light from the headlight back to the driver so that he or she can clearly see the road. Without glass beads, most of the light would just travel in the forward direction making night time driving dangerous. It is very important that the glass beads are of spherical shape to give maximum retroreflection as shown in the diagram.
Though different countries have different size specifications for road marking glass beads, they can be broadly divided into 2 types:
a) Intermix Glass Beads: As the name suggests, it is intermixed with the road-marking paint premix and then laid on the road.
b) Drop-on Glass Beads: Again as the name suggests, it is dropped on to the road marking paint as it is being laid. Due to this form of application, drop on glass beads give instantaneous refection.
The road marking glass beads types are further described in literature with their size specifications.