A Brief Analysis of the Advantages of Glass Beads for Sandblasting

Glass beads offer significant advantages over other blasting media. Compared to iron and stainless steel shot, it is difficult to achieve particle sizes smaller than 0.15mm with iron and stainless steel shot. Therefore, these media are often used for blasting treatment of steel castings and larger components. However, when blasting precision castings and non-ferrous metal components, it may cause deformation, leave marks, and cause excessive stress relief on these components. Glass beads, however, can be made smaller than 0.05mm. Due to their smaller size, the contact area with the component is very small, so it is not easy to damage the component, the stress relief is more uniform, and the matte effect is better. Compared with other types of glass sand such as silicon carbide and quartz sand, glass beads also have irreplaceable advantages. Because sand media are irregular or have sharp edges, regardless of the particle size, they will basically cause some damage to the sprayed components. Under a microscope, some traces will be visible, which can easily cause surface pollution and corrosion, thus failing to achieve long-term use effects. However, after glass bead blasting and cleaning, there are rarely any traces on the surface of the components, and the effect can remain unchanged for a long time. Glass beads, when used on metal and mold surfaces, do not damage the working surface while improving the accuracy of the work. They are used for cleaning and polishing of hardware, metal, plastic, and precision castings, and glass beads do not contain any resin components.

2021

08-18