Category Archives: Aluminum Oxide Blast Media

choosing the right blast media for your application

Glass Bead should be your media of choice when your part specifications call for a bright, clean, andsatin finish. Glass bead is used primarily in blast cabinets to create a uniform finish, light peening, and isoccasionally used to remove light burs. Glass Bead is a silica free media and comes in course and fine sizes.  Crushed Glass should be your media of choice when a more aggressive media is required.  Crushed glassis used for stripping paints and coatings, and to achieve a surface profile without removing a lot of metal.Crushed glass is commonly used in outdoor applications due to its low cost and environmentally friendlyqualities. Crushed glass can be your media of choice if you use or plan to use sand or coal slag (black beauty) without the health risks.  ALUMINUM OXIDE  Aluminum Oxide should be your media of choice when you need a sharp, cost‐effective recyclable abrasive.  It comes in two colors, brown and white.  Brown aluminum oxide is the more commonly usedof the two, its sharp angular and hard characteristics make it capable of cleaning a surface and handlinghigh PSI in the blast process.  The white aluminum oxide is a cleaner abrasive, while still able to handlehigh PSI it is more commonly used on medical and electronics parts.  Aluminum Oxide is used in a varietyof industries and applications including automotive, aerospace and medical. 

Blasting Oily Parts?

Many operators make the mistake of blasting parts contaminated with oil, grease or water in a cabinet not designed handle those soils.  The majority of blasting is done in a dry cabinet, airless or wheel blast machine and contaminating media will gum up hoses and guns causing down time and lost production.   Added time and money to a down operation is unfortunate however avoidable, with proper review of your parts and blasting operation prior to production.

Although majority of blasting is done with a dry abrasive or glass media there is equipment and media that, when necessary, have the capabilities of blasting oily or greasy parts.  Wet blast applications use a mixture of water and abrasive or non-abrasive media to
clean or prep the part and can only be used with special equipment designed for this process

Another option would be to use sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.  This media has many unique properties, one being removing grease and oils without causing problems for the equipment. This like wet blast, is used in equipment specially designed to handle this type of application.

Advantages Of Using Quality Abrasives

Many times when there are problems with the blasting process it is not that the material is bad, it is just miss-applied.  Therefore it is imperative to take the time to truly understand and determine why you are blasting the part and what finish is required.  Are you blasting for an anchor pattern, to apply a coating, remove heavy scale, uniformity, rust removal etc.?

Once this is determined, in order to consistently achieve your required finish you need to consider the quality of abrasive to use.  Many people are incorrect when they feel there isn’t much difference between abrasives.  Lower quality abrasive will definitely affect the consistency and uniformity of your blasting results, decrease your productivity while at the same time use more material because it breaks down more quickly.  The final outcome is higher operating costs and inconsistent results. 

Top criteria for determining quality abrasive:

• Is abrasive screened to required size tolerance for uniformity and consistency?
• Chemical makeup – How the material is made will have and affect on its durability.
• Shape of abrasive – This will tell you whether the abrasive is best for blasting or use in sandpaper. Sandpaper material does not perform well in blasting applications.
• Bulk density  – This will affect consistency and durability