While working on a particular sand blasting job, it’s very important to select the right abrasive for a specific job. Abrasive selection doesn’t only play an important role in the quality of the result produced but is an important for successful completion of the job. Surface effects which are produced with the help of different abrasives range from to gentle scouring of the surface to deep cutting. Some factors play an important role in selection of the abrasive sand for sand blasting, which are mentioned below:
- Type of material of the job– The important part of sand blasting is that specifications of the material you are going to perform sand blasting on are well recognized. Sometimes ignoring this fact only creates problems to the quality of the coating job. If you are performing sand blasting on a soft material then aluminum oxide is preferred as it produces a very smooth surface profile due to its properties which makes it less aggressive.
- Surface type to be cleaned– Surface types vary, thus it’s important to understand the basics of surface types & which type of abrasive to be used on which type of surface. For an instance steel grit is used to create a rough surface profile, the reason is because it’s hard and can be reused, and the least amount of waste is stripped of the particular surface area.
- Shape of the part- Even though each and every type of part can be sand blasted but it is an important aspect of the process to understand the procedure of blasting for a specific type of surface.
- MSDS of a particular material- Those who are new to this subject, MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet. The product safety data information is a document which contains data about the specifications and requirements of specific materials or substances.
Just take a look at the Mohr’s Hardness Scale for various abrasive medias, we can see the difference between different abrasives hardness. Following chart explains the best:
Sno. | Abrasive Media | Hardness |
1 | Aluminum Oxide | 12 |
2 | Silica Sand | 8 |
3 | Glass Beads | 5.0-6.5 |
4 | Walnut Shells | 2.5-4.5 |
A Black Beauty Abrasive
If we look at the scientific designation of Black Beauty abrasive, it’s an amorphous mixture of Iron (Fe), Aluminum (Al) & Calcium (Ca). More in a layman language we can say it contains the following properties which allow it to create the required surface finish with the least amount of dust afterwards.
a) Low moisture content
b) Fast cutting facility due to sharp angular edges
c) Long lasting life
d) High degree of itch for permanent bonding of coating between the two surfaces
e) Pure Hardness
f) More economical as compared to others
Composition of Black Beauty Sand
Black Beauty Blasting Sand contains a mixed and required ratio of different chemicals which are essential for a sand blasting job. The following table shows its composition very clearly and easy to understand-
| Sno. | Chemical Compositions | Percentage (%) |
| 1 | Silicon Dioxide | 41-53 |
| 2 | Iron Oxide | 7-31 |
| 3 | Aluminum Oxide | 17-25 |
| 4 | Calcium Oxide | 3-15 |
| 5 | Magnesium Oxide | 0-4 |
| 6 | Potassium Oxide | 0-3 |
| 7 | Titanium Dioxide | 0-2 |
| 8 | Sodium Oxide | 0.62 |
| 9 | Crystalline Quartz | <0.1 |
Types of Black Beauty Available
There are many types of grades and sizes of Black Beauty abrasives available which include:
a) Medium Grade- This is generally used for normal repairing purpose jobs including removing paints, scales of mill, exposure of aggregates & on structured steels. It is ¼ inch in size.
b) Fine Grade – Fine grade is 3/16 inch in size and it’s used for rust removing & light painting jobs, essentially for important applications such as maintenance of bridges, new structural steel, light mill scaling jobs etc.
c) Extra Fine Grade- The third type is extra fine grade with fineness if 1/8 inch, which is used for finishing surfaces. It’s commonly used for high pressure systems for water blasting.
d) Elite Grade- Elite grade of abrasives is only produced as per a demand of a specific project. It is a material produced on demand for high quality results.
e) Military Specific Grade- Military QPL approved specifications is MIL-A-22262B (SH). This grade of abrasive is produced to meet the military standards to ensure the quality surface for sand blasting of tanks & ships hulls, marine growth & other paint and rust removing jobs. In this generally non-metallic abrasives are used.
Black Beauty Sand in Industrial Use
Commonly known as Black Beauty Blasting Media or Black Beauty Slag, can be used for sand blasting in a wide range of industries starting from Bitumen & foam urethane industries to filtration filter media. Although the typical applications of Black Beauty abrasives are mentioned below:
a) As a blasting abrasive on sea faring vessels.
b) For aggregate exposing.
c) As removal agent for surface coatings & contaminants including paint, rust & scale.
d) As blasting abrasive for structural steel, castings, bridges, rail tracks & buildings.
e) In water filtration plants, Sealcoat aggregates, Non skid coatings & Mineral filter media treatment plants.
f) Also used in asphalt shingle & foam urethane industries.
Safety First
As mentioned before also in the MSDS details, there are some precautions to be taken during the use of Black Beauty sand abrasive for the safety of the user and the other persons present at the site. As for the user it’s important to use PPE’s, which stands for Personal Protective Equipments. Such as a:
a) Safety helmet
b) Safety glasses
c) Safety shoes
d) Abrasive resistant clothes
e) Ear plugs
f) Respirators
g) Gloves
Sand Blasting Equipments
There are different types of sand blasting equipments available on the market and also online. It generally depends upon the requirement of the job on which the sand blasting has to be done. It can be a siphon sandblaster which is used for smaller type of jobs and comparatively less expensive to others. If we consider a pressure pot type sandblaster it is used in projects which require fast and hard sand blasting. There are cabinet types of sand blasters also available for collecting the abrasives so they can be reused. In it the abrasives falls out through holes of the cabinet to the shelves and gets collected there before being recycled into the sandblaster equipment. It is always better to depend on portable type sandblasters because it’s reliable and can be moved or transported easily.
Reviews on Black Beauty Sand Blasting
One of their customers quoted Black Beauty to be one of the best all around medias available around the net and on the market. Black Beauty slag has been an important part of the sand blasting industry due to its quality & customer satisfaction provided worldwide.