Shot blasting has emerged as one of the most effective, as well as possibly the cheapest technique for surface preparation prior to operations such as galvanising, electroplating, welding, enamelling, glass coating and rubberising.

Shot blasting is useful for many industries, including the aerospace, ship building, forging and steel industries because it provides a consistent and uniformly fine, rough or matt surface depending on the techniques and tools used and the type of surface required.

Previously we published the post Shot Blasting Techniques: Things You Should Know but we felt that we’d now like to take this opportunity to talk a bit more about the actual benefits of shot blasting over and above other techniques often used for surface preparation.

Plus we’d like to lay out the types of shot commonly used and describe the situations they work best in.

So here are some of the major benefits associated with shot blasting as a surface preparation technique –

• Shot blasting eliminates the usage of non-eco friendly and harsh chemicals
• Shot blasting provides higher production rates, wider abrasive selection and better blast pattern accuracy
• The finished surface obtained is absolutely free from chemical deposits, scales and dust content. Shot blasting does not remove any virgin metal when removing scales
• Shot blasting facilitates the formation of a permanent bond between the protective coat (zinc, paint or epoxy) and the shot blasted surface. It also helps to detect surface faults or defects
• Shot blasting increases longevity and durability of protective surface coats as it adheres better to the shot blast cleaned and scale free surface

These are some of the many reasons why industries in the manufacturing sector opt for various shot blasting techniques for their surface preparation requirements.

Shot Blasting: Types of Shot Used

While shot blasting primarily refers to blasting the surface with small steel pellets or shots, many other types of shot blast materials are also used. Here we will take a look at some of the commonly used shots –

1. Steel Shots – Here, small steel balls of diameter 1 to 6 mm are fired at high speed against the surface being prepared. The size of the balls determines the finishing achieved. Smaller steel shots are used for more polished surface, while larger ones lead to a rougher finish.
2. Chilled Iron Grit – These are angular, abrasive material used for general blast cleaning, i.e., for removing oxides and paints from ferrous castings and carbon steel. However, blasting with chilled iron grit is quite aggressive and therefore not suitable for softer metals like aluminium.
3. Steel Grit – Blasting with steel grit is used for jobs where aggressive cleaning is required, such as for removing contaminants from steel or any other metal.

As one of the leading engineering services, PRV Engineering Ltd, can provide you with state of the art shot blasting services for all your surface preparation requirements.