Media blasting equipment
There are different media blasting equipment we use. Most commonly used is soda blasting. Soda blasting is nothing else then media blasting equipment that uses sodium bicarbonate as media.
We also know other media blasting equipment. Apart soda blasting we use other media also, sand is most widely used because it’s easiest to get. We also know other media blasting equipment, aluminum oxide, corn cob, glass grit, steel grid, steel shot and many other.
Soda blasting is used most because sodium bicarbonate is one of best media blasting equipment. Sodium is not that hazardous to workers, it does not damage glass, chrome or fiberglass which is why it can be used more or less everywhere and it’s water soluable. The final effect is same as using sand as a media but the surface is a lot less damaged if you use sodium bicarbonate.
Quality shot peening machines
Shot peening is a process of surface modification with media blasting that is used in numerous different industry branches. Each industry has its own requirements, which call for specific machines and media.
For example, shot peening in metallurgy is used to smooth and harden metallic surfaces and welds. Numerous types of surface treatment machines are used in metallurgy, including small blast cabinets to big blast rooms. Mobile injectors and pressure blast machines are also used in field work. That is just one branch; there are many more branches, where shot peening is used. Tool cleaning, big foundry molds, glass product decoration, sensitive antique restoration, edge smoothing in plastic industry, renovation and cleaning of buildings (graffiti removal), stonecutting (tombstones), enameling and so on.
It is no wonder that many of those processes depend on consistent quality; no matter how fine materials you use or how precise products are, quality of the final product can in many cases be dependent on quality of shot peening. Shot peening quality is determined by shot peening machines (mobile or stationary blasting machines, blast rooms etc.), the media used (sand, dry ice, steel abrasives etc.) and the process itself (proper intensity and surface coverage).
Furthermore, the quality of blasting machine depends on its components and parts; there are several types of machines that pose health hazard for operators (dust in air, etc.) and have to be designed with health regulations in mind. Quality of filters can impact the worker’s health significantly. Quality of media can also determine the outcome of process; surface material may be fractured and thus rendered useless.
Therefore it is important to use a proper and quality tool for the job as well as experts in the field. To this end exist many companies that provide a wide range of shot peening services as well as machines.
Blasting media for shot peening
Sandblasting is process with which you remove rust, color or anything else from surface.
Shot peening works similar to sandblasting but yet it’s completly different in a way. They both use similar equipment, majority of hten can basically be used for both operations. Main difference in operations is blating emdia they use. For sandblasting you can use many different media, and size and shape don’t matter that much. Here is where shot peening is completly different.
Shot peening reuires special round shaped media, called shots. These shots are then blsated to surface. And they dont’ remove anything from surface, but they kinda damage it. The idea here is that one shot makes small crater in surface, but if we makage to get shot to surface in optimal speed they change whole area in atomic level and don’t damage the surface.
With this we change mechanical properties of materials, making then more hard so they can sustain more hours of usage.