Abrasive grain and finishing media includes crushed grit, metal shot, glass beads or shaped chips for blasting, mass finishing (vibratory or tumbling), bonded wheels, coated abrasives and other applications. Abrasive grain and finishing media are used in abrasive products to remove surface materials such as metal, ceramics, glass, plastics, and paint. Abrasive grain and finishing media include discs, belts, blast machines and sandblasters, as well as sheets, rolls, and hand pads.

Some abrasive grain and finishing media are designed for use on bench or back stand grinders, while others are designed for use on portable or handheld grinders or sanders. Bonded abrasives, which include grinding wheels, use abrasive grains held together in a matrix of glass, resin, rubber, or other binders. Coated abrasives consist of an abrasive grain layer adhesively bonded to the surface of a cloth belt, fiber disc, plastic film, paper sheet, or other backing.

Grit size measures the abrasive grains in a matrix or bonded to a surface. Typically, grit sizes are based on ANSI (U.S.), FEPA (European), JIS (Japanese), or Micron graded standards. Typically, bonded abrasives and grinding wheels use ANSI - Bonded and FEPA - F grit size standards. Coated abrasives, grinding belts, and sanding discs use ANSI - CAMI and FEPA - P standards. Coarse abrasive grains, or grits, are used to remove large amounts of material, while medium grains are used to remove intermediate amounts. Fine grits are used in finishing and deburring applications, while very fine grits are suitable for deburring.

Abrasive grain and finishing media use several different types of abrasive grains. Aluminum oxide, the most common industrial mineral in use today, is used either individually or with other materials to form ceramic grains. Aluminum oxide is also combined with emery and crocus to produce abrasives suitable for finishing applications. Other types of abrasive grains include garnet, tungsten carbine, silicon carbide, and alumina-zirconia. Super-abrasive diamond pastes are useful in ferrous polishing or lapping applications where heat and reactivity are not factors. Cubic boron nitride (CBN), a superabrasive grain with hardness second to diamond and a cubic crystal structure provides superior grinding performance on carbon and alloy steel. Other types of abrasive grain and finishing media are also available.

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