It’s a Blast
The Importance of Abrasive Blast Cleaning in Protective Coatings
Abrasive blast cleaning plays a vital role in surface preparation across a wide range of industries, from marine and offshore to petrochemical and construction. It is one of the most effective methods of preparing a substrate to ensure maximum adhesion and performance of protective coatings. In this blog, our Technical Director, Brendan Fitzsimons, explores the fundamentals of abrasive blast cleaning, its applications, methods, and the critical role it plays in long-term asset protection.
The close familiarity of coatings used to protect steel against corrosion in the marine, offshore, petrochemical and construction sectors is critical for those involved in conducting surface preparation work and coatings applications.
In this blog, we consider abrasive blast cleaning’s paramount role in correctly preparing the level of surface and the application of a suitable protective coating at the fabrication stage, ensuring the long term, optimum performance of assets over the duration of their lifetime.
Suitable for use across a host of ferrous and non-ferrous surfaces, galvanised steel as well as concrete, plastic and wood, abrasive blast surface cleaning – sometimes referred to as abrasive blasting, sandblasting, shot blasting or grit blasting – involves the direction of a high-pressure stream of abrasive material against a surface to remove scale, rust and paint and provide a profile to aid adhesion of a coating system.
There are two main methods of abrasive blast cleaning
1. Either direct pressure or air blasting, which uses compressed air plus an abrasive mixture.
2. A technique that uses impellors to propel the abrasive onto the surface – commonly known as centrifugal blast cleaning.
The direct pressure abrasive blast cleaning process consists of using the compressed air and solid particles (abrasive) and projecting them onto the surface. The combination of high pressures (100 psi/6.8 bar) and abrasive particles being projected onto a surface will rapidly strip off the scale, rust and coatings and impart a surface profile which can then assist with the adhesion of any coating application. The same surface preparation technique, albeit at lower pressures, can be used to key a surface such as concrete.Abrasive blast cleaning can be carried out for a number of reasons, from the removal of mill scale on steel through the roughening of plastic surfaces to aid adhesion to the removal of laitance on concrete and flaky surfaces on wood prior to painting.
It’s also important to remind those involved in surface preparation work to pay attention to direct pressure abrasive blast cleaning equipment. This process is used in blast chambers within paint facilities and for site surface preparation activities in numerous locations such as offshore structures, ships and vessels, infrastructure structures, petrochemical industries and general construction.
The use of abrasive blast cleaning equipment, which utilises pressurised equipment and high pressures during the cleaning process, must be undertaken only by trained personnel for optimum safety while full compliance with the manufacturer’s recommendations should be adhered to at all times to maximise user safety.
Interested in building your skills in this essential technique?
Corrodere Academy’s Train the painter programme includes a dedicated Abrasive Blast Cleaning course, designed to ensure applicators are trained to industry-recognised standards. Whether you’re starting your journey or proving your experience, this course is the foundation of safe, effective surface preparation.
Find an approved training centre near you.
Already trained? Prove your competency with A1 QCA Certification.
