Properties and Applications of Abrasive Blast Media

Composition Materials supplies a wide varierty of Abrasives for us in blasting, cleaning and stripping primers, paints, powder coating, enamels, rust and scale from steel, bronze, aluminum, stone, brick, wood, rubber, plastics, and composites.

Soft Abrasives such as Walnut Shells, Plastic Blast Media and Corn cob can remover paint and coatings without marring, pitting or etching.

Hard Abrasives such as Steel Shot, Steel Grit, Glass Beads and Aluminum Oxide are used for profiling metal surfaces as well as peening applications for stress relief.

Abrasives are also utilized for deburring, tumbling and deflashing.

Abrasive Blast Media

Aluminum Oxide (Figure 1) is a durable and aggressive abrasive widely used in grinding, blasting, cleaning, and surface prep.

Figure 1. Aluminum Oxide Abrasive Blast Media

White Aluminum

White Aluminum Oxide (Figure 2) abrasive has a purity of 99.4% and is used in aerospace aviation, medical, cosmetics and dental industries.

Figure 2. White Aluminum Oxide Grit

Steel Shot

Steel Shot (Figure 3) is a versatile abrasive for blasting, cleaning, stripping, surface improvement, deburring and finishing of metal surfaces. It yields smooth and polished finishes in finishing operations, with larger sizes producing rougher surfaces and smaller sizes smoother finishes.

Figure 3. Steel Shot

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Steel Grit (Figure 4) is employed in blasting, cleaning and stripping of foundry metals and steel. The aggressive media effectively profiles hard metals to achieve better adhesion of coatings. It is also used for removal of flashing, rail car reconditioning and forging industry applications.

Figure 4. Steel Grit

The hardest blast media available is Silicon Carbide Abrasive (Figure 5), used for rock tumbling, etching glass or engraving stone. It is an excellent replacement for sand because of the absence of any free silica. Morever, it is reclaimable and reusable for several times.

Figure 5. Silicon Carbide

Glass Beads (Figure 6) are used in peening, deburring, polishing and blast cleaning operations. It is widely used on rubber, plastics, glass and metals. In addition peening with Glass Beads can address and stress crack problems effectively, even on thin welds and metal components.

Figure 6. Glass Beads

Conclusion

Each blasting work is unique and requires selecting the blast parameters for optimum efficiency, including media size, type, nozzle distance and blast pressure. Composition Materials offers technical expertise in selecting the media and parameters for specific blasting operations.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Composition Materials.

For more information on this source, please visit Composition Materials.