Abrasive, have you chosen the right type?

    Abrasive materials play a vital role in various industries, from woodworking to metal fabrication. Selecting the right blasting abrasive is a critical decision in the surface preparation process, directly affecting processing efficiency, finished product quality, cost control and environmental compliance.

Factors to Consider

1.According to the workpiece material

• Metal workpieces: Steel shot, steel sand, etc. can be selected. They have high hardness and can effectively remove rust and scale on the metal surface, and can improve the surface hardness and fatigue strength. For softer metals, such as aluminum and copper, glass beads can also be used to obtain a smoother surface and reduce damage to the workpiece.

• Non-metal workpieces: such as plastics and glass, it is advisable to use abrasives with lower hardness and finer particles, such as aluminum oxide powder and silicon carbide powder, to avoid excessive wear or cracking of the workpiece during the sandblasting process.

2.Consider sandblasting equipment

• Equipment type: Different sandblasting equipment has different requirements for the shape and particle size of abrasives. For example, pressure sandblasting machines can use abrasives of various shapes and particle sizes, while suction sandblasting machines are more suitable for abrasives with finer particle sizes and better fluidity.

• Abrasive recovery system: If the sandblasting equipment has an abrasive recovery system, abrasives with good wear resistance and not easy to break should be selected to reduce abrasive loss and the burden on the recovery system.

3. Environmental protection and safety
Dust control:
Low-dust abrasives (garnet, glass beads) are preferred, or wet sandblasting is used.
Toxicity:
Avoid quartz sand containing free silicon (which can cause silicosis).
Recyclability:
Steel sand, steel shot, and ceramic beads can be recycled many times to reduce long-term costs.

Choosing the Right Abrasive

1. Determine the goal: cleaning, roughening or polishing?
   2. Evaluate the workpiece: material, hardness, sensitivity.
   3. Eliminate environmentally unfriendly options: such as quartz sand.
   4. Test samples: test the effect on similar workpieces.
   5. Optimize parameters: adjust pressure, particle size and spray angle.

Example scenarios:
- Rust removal of automobile parts: steel sand (recyclable, efficient).
- Deburring of aluminum alloy mobile phone cases: glass beads (no scratches).
- Roughening of concrete walls: brown corundum (economical and hard enough).

Have you learned anything after reading this article?