Abrasive Blasting

Abrasive blasting is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to make it smoother, remove surface contaminants or to roughen it.

PCiRoads uses abrasive blasting as a highly efficient method of surface preparation before painting or shotcrete applications. Abrasive blasting is done in the fabrication and paint shop and on location. The most commonly used media include glass beads, aluminum oxide/glass beads, aluminum, oxide beads, silicon carbide beads, walnut shells beads, garnet beads, other bead types (plastic, soda, etc.).

Abrasive blasting can be done using two methods:

Dry Abrasive Blasting

Dry abrasive blasting uses metallic, synthetic and minerals beads due to the low dust creation and reclamation of material. Soft organic abrasives such as ground nutshells, fruit kernels or baking soda are used for cleaning of brick or stonework or the removal of graffiti without damaging the underlying material.

Wet Abrasive Blasting

Wet abrasive blasting is an operation in which water is added to an abrasive blast or applied externally to the abrasive stream as it exits the blast nozzle. Wet abrasive blast cleaning creates less dust than dry abrasive blast cleaning. Inhibitors may be added to the water or used in a follow-up rinse to prevent flash rusting.

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