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  1. The difference between steel and cast iron

    If you work in the blasting industry, you know that choosing the right material for your abrasive is crucial to achieving the desired result. Two of the most common materials used for making metal shot are steel and cast iron, but people are often unsure of the difference between the two. In this article, we will explore the differences between cast iron and steel and how these affect the choice of the right abrasive for your blasting process. 

    Cast iron is an iron alloy with a significant amount of carbon, usually between 2.1% and 4.3%: thanks to this feature, cast iron is an extremely hard material, ideal for applications requiring strong abrasion such as blasting cast iron parts, cleaning boiler pipes, removing resistant paint, and much more.

    Steel is also an iron and carbon alloy, but with a lower carbon content than cast iron. Steel may also contain small percentages of other elements, such as chromium or nickel, to improve its mechanical properties.

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  2. Corundum for sandblasting: uses and varieties

    Corundum is an aluminum oxide that can be found in nature as a mineral; in the industrial field is used synthetic corundum which is cheaper than the natural one and is obtained by the fusion of bauxite. 

    It is a non-toxic abrasive, in fact it does not contain free silica and other components harmful to health, unlike other cheaper products that are used for sandblasting. 

    The main feature of corundum is its high hardness (9 Mohs: only one point lower than diamond) which guarantees an exceptional abrasive capacity and the speed in obtaining the required result on any type of material. Having a high impact resistance, it is particularly suitable when the abrasive can be recycled during sandblasting process. The various types and the wide range of particle sizes allows to respond to every need in terms of roughness and surface finishing. 

    The

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  3. Abrasives for blasting, which one you should use

    Abrasives for shot blasting machine

    The expression sand for sandblasting normally refers generically to the abrasive media used in the various shot blasting systems, both with compressed air and with turbine.

    What is the abrasive to use for sandblasting?

    Silica sand is common sand but its chemical name is silicon dioxide. Also known as quartz, silica is one of the most common minerals in the world. Silica sand is weathered quartz rock and is the type of sand found on most beaches around the world. It has a good efficiency for sandblasting because the particles are quite uniform in size and the almost microscopic sharp edges of the individual grains make it effective for removing the material from the object to be sandblasted.

    sabbiasilicea

    The problem is that silica sand is an extremely toxic material and when used as an abrasive in blasting

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  4. Blasting machine: what is it? The shot blasting plants

    What is a sand blasting machine?

    Shot blasting systems are used in many industrial fields for mechanical processing, cleaning, finishing or improving the strength of metals.

    The process involves subjecting the piece to a jet of spherical or angular metal shot or another abrasive. There are different types of shot blasting systems: the simplest are those consisting of manual compressed air sandblasting machines while the automatic systems use a turbine powered by an engine to increase the output speed of the abrasive. Using a shot blasting system changes the surface of the treated piece which can undergo different processes depending on its final use.

     

    What are the applications of a shot blasting system?

    There are few industrial sectors that do not make use of the shot blasting

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  5. Ferrous and non-ferrous metals: which are they?

    Ferrous metals

    Ferrous metals include mild steel, carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron and wrought iron. These metals are primarily used for their tensile strength and durability, particularly mild steel which helps support the tallest skyscrapers and longest bridges in the world. You can also find iron and its alloys in house construction, industrial containers, large-scale piping, automobiles, railroad tracks, most of the tools and hardware you use around the house and the knives you cook with at home.

    Due to the high amounts of carbon used during their creation, most ferrous metals and ferrous alloys are vulnerable to rust when exposed to the elements. While this is not true of wrought iron, which is so pure iron that it resists oxidation, or stainless steel, which is protected due to its high chromium content. Most ferrous metals also have magnetic properties, which make

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  6. The difference between sandblasting and shot peening

    The terms sandblasting and shot peening in Italy are sometimes used interchangeably but in fact they describe two very distinct procedures for surface treatment and finishing in different industrial fields.

    What is sandblasting?

    Sandblasting is the procedure that allows you to remove and eliminate, with a stream of abrasive and air launched at high speed and at very high pressure, impurities and corrosive slags: paints, rust, oxides, sand and calamine. In this way the surface can be prepared in order to create the best adhesion between the surface and the coating that will be applied or reapplied on the it.

    For the sandblasting process, various types of abrasive material are used depending on the result to be obtained in terms of cleanliness and roughness of the surface. Mineral abrasives

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  7. TCO, Winoa's pillar of differentiation

    The TCO (Total Cost of Operation), or the "Total Cost of Operation" of sandblasting, is one of the pillars of Winoa's differentiation.

    Most companies think they can reduce the cost of blasting operations by buying cheaper abrasives. The problem is that, in reality, abrasives represent only 20% of the total cost of shot-blasting operations: therefore even a reduction in the purchase cost of the shot has little impact on the overall cost of the process.

    Is there a more effective solution? Yes, considering all the elements involved: manpower, machines, maintenance, spare parts, wear, energy and waste, as well as the shot itself.


    sandblasting costs

    This is what W Abrasives'

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  8. The blasting process and the various types of abrasives

    The sandblasting process is a mechanical technique for the controlled cleaning of a surface, usually metallic. It is made by erosion thanks to the abrasion generated by propelling metal shots or grit with compressed air lances.

     

    airblasting

     

    Another method uses wheel blasting machines. The sandblasting process, in addition to allowing the surface of a metal product to be cleaned from residues and corrosive scales, can also be used to obtain a particular surface roughness for subsequent coating or painting processes. In the case of shot-peening, on the other hand, it’s used to add strength and reduce the stress profile of special components.

     

    wheelblasting

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  9. Success Story of Luitpolhütte, How W Abrasives experts become TrialAdvisor?


    Luitpolhütte is a German company which produces high-quality castings in small and medium-sized series for renowned companies throughout the world. 
     
    Their main key differentiating point is based on their unique offer: they are focused on heavy, technical, sophisticated and core-intensive castings of up to 1,000 kg.
     
    Faced with a blasting issue, Luitpoldhutte did not hesitate to trust Winoa’s expert team and came for a trial at Le Cheylas Test Center.

     

    LH-OK

    What are the stakes of the trial?

    Currently Luitpoldhütte is re-blasting most of its parts two or three times, focusing on one or two critical areas which is a real waste of time and money!
     
    The goal of the trial was to find a more efficient abrasive in ord
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  10. Focus on blasting process control to guarantee cleaning success!

    A successful Technical Seminar was held in June at Schulz Foundry, one of the biggest air compressor manufacturers in Brazil. They started in the foundry industry producing parts for their compressors and, after that, extended their range of products for the automotive industry, the most important Brazilian sector today after the agricultural sector.
     
    Schulz was one of the first customers where we were successful in implementing the HPG in 2007, providing important gains in productivity, a fact that has kept them faithful to our product since then. The HPG, which means High Performance Grit, is a steel grit specially designed to improve shot blasting performance in foundries and forges. It works faster and lasts longer. Its characteristics give a higher cleaning efficiency on external parts, a higher cleaning efficiency of internal surfaces with smaller holes and geometry details, and a controlled and consistent surface profile. 
     
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