What Glass Beads Are Used for Sandblasting?
Sandblasting is the technique of preparing a surface for painting or sealing by way of accelerating small bits of abrasive material at the surface of the material to be painted or sealed. Sandblasting gets rid of any imperfections in the prior paint or sealant so that the imperfections are not carried over when a new layer of paint or sealant is applied. Does this Spark an idea?
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Types of Sandblasting Media
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Many types of media that can be used in sandblasting, depending upon the application. Some blasting materials include aluminum oxide, white aluminum oxide, corn cob, crushed glass bits, glass beads, plastic, pumice, silicon, steel and even walnut shells.
Crushed Glass Bits
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This is a silica-free abrasive that is nonreactable and consumable. It is a rough, more abrasive medium that can remove a variety of coatings. It is generally manufactured from 100% recycled glass bottles. It produces a whiter and cleaner finish than some of the mineral abrasives.
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Glass Beads
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Glass beads are more uniform in size and less angular than crushed glass bits. They are silica-free and mainly used for blasting, honing, cleaning and light deburring. Glass beads can typically be reused up to 30 times.
Glass Blasting
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Using either glass beads or glass bits is environmentally friendly as glass is inert, lead-free and contains no silica. Glass-bead sandblasting can be used on a number of materials, including aluminum, titanium, plastic, stainless steel, copper, steel, brass, sterling silver, bronze, metal, glass and rubber. Using glass-bead sandblasting on these materials does not harm the surface.
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References
- Photo Credit glass rocks image by Lori Pagel from Fotolia.com
