Abrasive blasting (commonly known as sandblasting) is a surface preparation technique for paint, coatings and restoration. Abrasive blast equipment uses compressed air to entrain and accelerate the media through a blast hose. As the abrasive media exits the blast nozzle and impacts the target, it removes residue, rust and scale and etches the surface as the result of the high kinetic energy, hardness (Mohs hardness scale), and mesh size of the media.
The adhesion and lifetime of the coating relies on the surface cleanliness and anchor pattern. The anchor pattern (surface profile) is the profile depth of the surface and depends on the blasting pressure and the hardness, composition, hardiness, shape, and mesh size of the abrasive media. Common abrasive media are aluminum oxide, coal slag, corn cob, crushed glass, glass bead, garnet, pumice, plastic, silicon carbide, sodium bicarbonate, steel grit, steel shot, and walnut shell.
Benefits
Sandblasting is an efficient, effective and economical surface preparation tool and works on a range of materials including steel, stainless steel, copper, iron, titanium, bronze, metal, brass, aluminum, plastic, rubber and glass.
Numerous surface profiles are possible by choosing the appropriate media and operating conditions.
Applications
Abrasive blasting is commonly used for cleaning, rust removal, oxide removal, paint removal, paint stripping, scale removal and surface profiling. Metals are quickly profiled to accept primer, fillers, powder coatings, and paint.
Capabilities
Snow White Services can achieve white metal blast, near white blast, commercial blast, and brush off blast qualities depending on your specifications. With a range of in-house blasting capabilities, we are able to clean small and large parts and blast the inside and outside of pipes (up to 60” in diameter). In addition, we offer oil free abrasive blasting for sensitive applications like oxygen piping.
For large surface area projects including steel tanks, steel decks, and ship walls, we use horizontal blast cleaning and vertical blast cleaning machines. We can provide dust collectors with capacities from 6,000 to 100,000 CFM for dust control.
Snow White Services uses efficient equipment, premium abrasive media, quality compressed air (oil free air compressors available), safe operating procedures, and accepted quality standards to prepare and restore surfaces.
