Types of Sandpaper Materials – Sandpaper is a versatile tool and is often used in various Do It Yourself projects (DIY).
These tools are usually made of paper or fabric that is coated with abrasives, and are available in a variety of grit levels.
Choosing the right type of sandpaper for your project is crucial to achieving optimal results. So, what are the types of sandpapers?
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This time, Dimulti will showcase a variety of sandpaper according to its materials, let’s find out in the article below!
Table of Contents
Types of Sandpaper Materials

1. Silicone Carbide
The first one is the silicone carbide sandpaper, this type of sandpaper is also the most versatile one as this sandpaper is suitable for a variety of materials such as titanium, iron, copper, clay, plastic, rubber, glass, stone, or wood.
Well, the main advantage of sandpaper with silicone carbide material is its ability to lift entire rough surfaces with a neat result. This makes it ideal for the early stages of smoothing or rough sandpapering on a variety of materials.
2. Aluminum Oxide
This sandpaper material is a perfect choice for wood, metal, stainless steel, leather, and paint. Although more delicate than silicone carbide, aluminum oxide has the advantage of long surface durability so that it can be used multiple times.
And on top of that, The sandpaper with aluminum oxide material also has many color variants.
3. Ceramic
Despite having a relatively more expensive price, sandpaper with ceramic material is known to have strong and durable characteristics.
Moreover, sandpapers with these ceramic materials are usually used for sandpapering using power tools and are chosen by people who are often works on DIY projects because of its longer lifespan durability.
4. Alumina Zirconia
Sandpaper with zirconia alumina material is known to be very tough and durable. This material is ideal for sandpapering using tools or machines. Aluminum zirconium gives an advantage in its high durability and consistency, making it the primary choice for jobs that require maximum results with a fast time.
Also Read: “8 Common Types of File Tools“
5. Silicon Carbide
Sandpaper with silicon carbide material is usually used for sandpapering items with plastic or metal material.
This sandpaper is made from a sheet of paper that is subsequently given silicon carbide particles that make this kind of sandpaper very hard, making it ideal for sandpapering hard and soft surfaces.
In addition, silicon carbide is also suitable for both wet and dry sandpapering, making it suitable to polish metal as well as plastic.
One of the characteristics of this sandpaper is that particles of silicon carbide will self-sharpening when used on hard material surfaces, thus making these sandpapers even more effective.
6. Garnet and Flint
Sandpaper with garnet material and flint is a sandpaper that is perfectly suited for sandpapering material with wood material.
Usually, sandpaper with garnet material has a relatively higher price compared to flint material. However, sandpapers with granite material also have a better durability and produce a smoother finish.
Meanwhile, sandpaper with flint material is usually used for rougher surfaces and also has more rough characteristics as well.
So, here are the 6 types of sandpaper materials to choose for your next DIY project!
The types of these sandpaper to use ultimately depends on the projects that you’re working on.
But, the best type of sandpaper is the one that has already been tested for its quality and has been certified with the SNI certification.
The SNI certification is a type of approval in Indonesia to ensure that every product and service in the Indonesian market is complying with Indonesian standards.
As for the sandpaper itself, its clearly regulated in SNI 8212:2017.
So, if you’re interested more in this subject, please click this link!












