Category Archives: Garnet Abrasive

Garnet sandlbasting grit – news and technical data on this sandblasting abrasive

Picking Grit Size For Sandblasting

Leave a reply

How do you pick a grit size?

A quick and simple answer is to pick a maximum grain size that is about equal to the thickness of the coating being removed.  So if what you are trying to remove is 1.6 mm thick (.063 inch), you would choose a 12 grit.  A bit finer size is often used as well, because you get better coverage as the finer particles fil into grooves, cracks, voids in the surface that the larger particles will not fit into.

A more detailed answer involves selecting a grit size based on the surface profile you are attempting to achieve on your substrate.  A quick guide can be found here.

Keep in mind that the more rounded a particle is, the more contact area it has with your substrate, and this can speed up cleaning rates.  Glass bead is a good example of a cleaning abrasive, whereas the more angular and blocky aluminum oxide particle is useful for actual surface preparation.  (Where you want the abrasive to leave a surface profile for a future coating).

 

 

Share

What Is A Grit Size – Quick & Dirty Answer

Leave a reply

When it comes to choosing a grit size, it helps to have a mental image to guide you.  The following explanation is a “quick and dirty,” non technical, simple and easy explanation.

First, know that our ANSI grit sizes will match sandpaper grits in a hardware store.  So a 60 grit sandpaper will have particles very similar to our 60 grit loose abrasive – regardless if it is a silicon carbide or aluminum oxide.  If you prefer to view a physical representation, go to a hardware store and take a close look at the particles on a variety of sandpapers.  You will see for example, that a 600 grit sandpaper has very fine particles imbedded in it, whereas an 8 sandpaper has coarse, larger particles.

Second, imagine you held a small 1″ x 1″ square piece of mesh (screen material) in the palm of your hand.  An 8 grit will pass through a screen with 8 holes in that 1″ square mesh.  A finer 240 grit will pass through a screen with 240 smaller holes in the same 1″ square mesh.   In other words, the finer the particle size, the smaller the holes must be on that 1″ square piece of mesh for particles to pass through, and that means there will be lots more holes in the mesh.

Bottom line:  An 8 grit is much coarser than a 360 grit.  Low number = coarser grain size.  As grit size increases in grit number, it decreases in physical size, becoming finer and finer until we are dealing with polishing powders.

We sell sandblasting grits and powders online in a variety of different abrasive medias.

Share

Sandblasting Profiles: What abrasive should I use?

Leave a reply

Anchor patterns are extremely difficult to approximate due to the many variables at play.  Use this information with Caution!  This is only an approximation.

The type of metal use in this example was hot rolled steel with tightly adhering mil scale.  The type and hardness of your substrate, how thick the scale is, the degree of cleaning you are attempting to achieve, experience and skill of the person performing the sandblasting, etc will all factor into your end result.

In this example, the pressure blasting was done using a 90-100 psi nozzle pressure.  The depth of the anchor profiles listed below are approximations only, and are on average.

1 Mil Profile:

1.5 Mil Profile:

2 Mil Profile:

2.5 Mil Profile:

3 Mil Profile

 

Share

What Is Friability?

Leave a reply

What Is Friablity?  Short Answer:  How easily/quicky a media shatters on impact and breaks down.  Think of Friability as durability.  This is different from Hardness Rating.  Sandblasting medias may have the same Hardness rating, but completely different Friability Ratings.   One will break down fast, the other will remain intact and can be recycled multiple times.

Brown Fused Aluminum Oxides have a LOW friability, so it will break down slowly, and coarser sizes can be recycled multiple times.

White Fused Aluminum Oxides have a HIGH friabilty, but the SAME HARDNESS rating of Brown Fused Aluminum Oxides.  Even though it is just as hard as Brown Fused AO, it will shatter on impact and break down quickly, without doing as much damage/impact to the substrate.  This is one reason why it is often used for delicate glass etching, and why it makes a nice final polish for rock tumbling.  Its high hardness rating however, makes it appropriate for anti skid flooring applications, traction, etc.

Sinterblast, or Sintered Aluminum Oxide has a MEDIUM friability.  Think of it as the middle ground between Brown Fused and White Fused.  It can be recycled in coarse sizes, but will not have the long life (durability) of a Brown Fused Aluminum Oxide.  It is often preferred by Powdercoating companies due to its lower cost.  If you are just taking off mil scale prior to coating, this is a great media to try out.  It is a lower purity aluminum oxide, and cheaper in cost to manufacture due to the sintering process being less expensive than the fusing process.  THE MEDIUM FRIABILITY OF THIS TYPE OF ALUMINUM OXIDE IS WHY YOU BLAST AT A 60 PSI, AND NOT THE USUAL 80-90 PSI OF BROWN FUSED ALUMINUM OXIDE.  ANYTHING HIGHER AND YOU WILL NOT ACHIEVE GOOD RESULTS BECAUSE THE MEDIA WILL SHATTER UPON ITSELF IN THE AIR STREAM BEFORE GETTING TO YOUR SUBSTRATE.

When choosing an abrasive to use, make sure you take into consideration its friability, not just hardness rating.  Our product descriptions of our sandblasting abrasives include both hardness ratings and friability ratings.

 

Share

Number One Cause Of Premature Coatings Failure

Leave a reply

The most common cause of premature coatings failure is improper ANCHOR PATTERN.

What is anchor pattern?  It is a term used to describe the roughness (etch, or profile) that is created on a surface when sandblasted.  The Anchor Pattern is measured in 1/1000th of an inch, which is called a MIL.  Paint coatings are also measured in MILS as well, making it a term that is easy to remember.

Coatings require specific mils of anchor pattern in order to properly adhere to the surface it is applied to.  Each coating will have different requirements.  Therefore, you cannot simply sandblast a surface clean and then apply paint to it without technical information on what mils profile that particular coating requires (among other factors).  If you simply guess at what profile you need, you risk premature coatings failure.

If you have no access at all to the coating manufacture’s technical data and need to make an educated guess, you will want to consider the following rule of thumb:

The mils of anchor pattern you create on the surface to be coated, should be 25 to 30% of the DRY film thickness of the total coatings system BUT NEVER greater than the dry film thickness of the primer coat unless additional coats are to be applied immediately.

Also key to understand is that the wet mils of a coating will be different than the dry mils of a coating.  Many coatings shrink tremendously, depending on the percentage of solids contained within them.  Make sure that the anchor pattern you create when sandblasting is much shallower than the total coatings when dry.

Other factors that impact the development of anchor pattern include the type of steel you are blasting (including hardness and chemical composition), how the steel was formed, prior use of the steel, the type of abrasive you use to create the anchor pattern (including size, shape, hardness, and velocity), as well as what type of blast nozzle you choose to use and how you use it (such as angle and distance to the work surface).

The chart below is a crude approximation of abrasive size to anchor pattern, and should thus be used only as a starting point only for both centrifugal wheel and pressure blasting.

  • 1 Mil Profile = G80 Steel Grit, 100 Mesh Garnet, S110 Steel Shot, 3060 Coal Slag
  • 1.5 Mil Profile = G50 Steel Grit, 100 Mesh Garnet, S170 Steel Shot, 3060 Coal Slag
  • 2.0 Mil Profile = G40 Steel Grit, 3060 possibly also 80 Mesh Garnet, 36 Grit Aluminum Oxide, 3060 Coal Slag, 3060 Copper Slag
  • 2.5 Mil Profile = G40 Steel Grit, 3060 Mesh Garnet, 24 Grit Aluminum Oxide, 2040 Coal Slag, 2050 Copper Slag
  • 3 – 4 Mil Profiles = G25 Steel Grit, 36 possibly also 3060 Mesh Garnet, 16 Grit Aluminum Oxide, 2050 or 1230 Copper Slag, 1240 Coal Slag

 

 

 

 

Share

Garnet Abrasive Mil Profiles (Anchor Pattern)

Leave a reply

Sizing and Profile Information:  (!)  NOTES:  Anchor patterns will vary tremendously based on other variables such as hardness & type of steel, level of corrosion being removed, blast angle, blast distance from the steel, etc.

  • 36 – Coarse.   Produces a 3.5 – 4.5 mil profile on steel surfaces.  Generally used for thick coatings, marine fouling, and rust.
  • 30×40 – Intermediate.  Produces a  2.5 – 4.0 mil profile on steel surfaces.  Used on heavier coatings up to 40 mils, and rust.
  • 30×60 Medium.  Produces a 2.0 – 3.5 mil profile on steel surfaces.  Considered to be an overall workhorse grade for new steel and maintenance for coatings up to 20 mils.
  • 80 Mesh – Medium Fine.  Produces a 2.0 – 3.0 mil profile on steel surfaces.  Great for aluminum and other sensitive substrates.
  • 100 Mesh – Fine.  Produces a 1.0 – 2.5 mil profile on steel surfaces.  Also can be used on aluminum and fiberglass, as well as for rust removal and mill scale on new steel.

Garnet is a industrial gemstone sandblasting abrasive  that creates a profile virtually free of embedment, which makes it excellent for coating adhesion, as well as applications where low or no transfer of grit into the substrate can be tolerated.  Clean and Fast!

Share