What Does
Shot Blast Cleaning Mean?
Shot blast cleaning is a method of abrasive blast cleaning or abrasive blasting. Small metal shot acts as an abrasive media for surface preparation. Shot blast cleaning forcibly propels a high-pressure stream of abrasive material (metal shot) against a surface to:
- Smooth a rough surface.
- Shape a surface.
- Remove surface contaminants such as rust.
- Remove paints or coatings.
Shot blast cleaning is also known as shot blasting.
Corrosionpedia Explains Shot Blast Cleaning
Shot blast cleaning is commonly used:
- To clean iron, steel, non-cast parts, forgings, mechanical sheets, rods, coils and wire.
- To prepare surfaces to be painted or coated.
- For shot peening, to alter a material's mechanical properties (e.g., to increase its resistance to fatigue).
Steel surfaces, such as aircraft carriers, ships and petroleum and water storage tanks may be shot blasted to remove rust, non-skid coatings, paint and marine growth. This may be done before these surfaces are coated (or re-coated) for corrosion resistance.
The two techniques used in the shot blast cleaning process are:
- Wheel blasting.
- Air blasting.