Abrasive blasting is a finishing method that strips contaminants, rust and other imperfections from the surface of parts. Blasting is a faster surface preparation solution, especially when compared to more laborious blasting techniques such as sanding or wire brushing, but that is only one of the numerous benefits of abrasive blasting before surface coating.
Blasting Mediums
Abrasive blasting can work well for a variety of materials, including aluminum, stainless steel, plastics, titanium and many more. Media used for blasting, however, differs based on the material of the piece being finished – they also vary in size to allow for customizing the texture of your parts.
Possible blasting media can include any of the following:
- Crushed glass
- Acrylic
- Corncob
- Pumice
- Glass beads
- Aluminum oxide
- Walnut shells
- Silicone carbide
- Steel grit
Advantages of Abrasive Blasting
To put it simply, abrasive blasting helps to effectively prepare surfaces for coating. The benefits of this finishing process include:
Cost
Abrasive blasting offers economic advantages – the materials used are often inexpensive and many abrasive media are reusable. In addition to the time saved and finishing efficiency, it’s highly cost-effective.
Environmentally Friendly
Abrasive blasting has significantly less of an impact on the environment than chemical cleaning because media used is often made of natural materials that don’t release emissions during blasting.
Efficiency
Abrasive blasting is extremely thorough, so you can guarantee that all the nooks and crannies of your blasted part undergo cleaning without the labor-intensive manual cleaning required of chemical cleaning.
Surface Adhesion
Surface preparation blasting greatly improves the adhesion of a part’s surface and can be customized to any preferred roughness or texture, where chemical stripping does not allow any control. Surface adhesion needed typically depends on the application requirements needed for the part.
Part Improvement
Abrasive blasting can not only prepare surfaces to receive coatings and remove thin coatings that still exist, but it also allows for complex surface cleaning, efficiently removing burrs and achieving an ideal surface texture or roughness.
User Safety
Surface blasting is less of a health risk for operators than chemical or sandblasting cleaning methods – this is because of the fine dust and chemical emissions that can be generated in the latter which is not churned up with other media blasting processes.
Contact the Experts at RP Abrasives
With our advanced bead blasting processes, RP Abrasives can help you accomplish all of your surface finishing needs. To learn more about our surface preparation solutions or request a free quote, please contact us online today!