The sponge blasting machine is an inventive commercial and industrial blasting technology. This low-dust, dry method offers a variety of surface profiles, minimizes downtime, and requires little containment. Reusable sponge media can be used on surfaces ranging from the roughest to the most sensitive. They contain abrasives in varied sizes and grades or none at all. This method provides industrial surface preparation that is quick, dry, clean, safe, and adaptable at a cost that is frequently less than that of traditional blasting.
What Is The Technology Used in Sponge Blasting Machines?
An open-celled polyurethane impregnated with abrasives based on water is called sponge media. It offers a number of built-in time, cost, and money-saving advantages. Sponge media is pliable, so when it hits something, its particles flatten and reveal the abrasive. The media contracts after leaving the surface, ensnaring what would have otherwise become airborne pollutants and adding value in the form of microcontainment.
The components of a sponge blasting machine include classifiers, feed units, and a range of sponge-jet media types. These are intended to provide a reusable, low-dust, low rebound, abrasive or non-abrasive surface preparation system that is dry.
Sponge media is delivered to the surface by the sponge-jet feed systems. Every feed in its design adheres to the unique flow properties of sponge media. A drill at the unit’s base regulates the quantity of media delivered into the air stream, and an actuator within the blast pot stirs the sponge media to keep it flowing. The blast pressure and media flow may be precisely adjusted with a pneumatic control panel.
Sponge-jet media classifiers handle recycling tasks. Blasted media is gathered and processed using a sifter that is operated by electricity or pneumatics. This sifter divides sponge media into three groups: fines, which are made up of dust and spent media, reusable media, and large debris. After every blast cycle, between 60% and 90% of the sponge media is usually reused. Sponge media, which is patented, forms the core of the sponge-jet system. During the manufacturing process, abrasives are chemically linked to an open-cell, water-reacted polyurethane sponge, which serves as sponge media. The properties and blasting capacities of each kind of sponge media vary.
How Does Sponge Blasting Machine Work?
The Blast Feed Unit in the sponge blasting machine receives the media, which is mechanically mixed and supplied into a revolving screw-auger port at the pot’s bottom. The air-media mix passes through a hose as the auger entrains the sponge in a variable-pressure air stream. Depending on the blast pressure, it then travels via a Venturi blast nozzle and impacts the work area at a speed of 15 to 100 meters (50 to 325 feet) per second.
The sponge particles compress and glide across the surface as they come into contact with it, creating a cleaning and scouring motion that is comparable to sanding. When compared to traditional grit blasting, this offers a less aggressive and dusty blast. The abrasive particles consume up most of the blast energy to remove corrosion or paint covering. Since the media bounces back slowly, most projects will use a tarp or some lightweight plastic sheeting to contain the media for recycling and pick-up around the work area.
Less than 10% of the airborne dust levels typically associated with conventional grit blasting media are produced with sponge blast media. When removing lead and chromate paints is a significant benefit to health and safety. Depending on the blast pressure, surface shape, and contamination levels, sponge blast media can normally be recycled eight to fifteen times. The low-dust advantages of the sponge blasting machine system must always be preserved by regularly cleaning the media with air wash or mechanical vibration equipment before reusing it. It is advised to replace spent sponge blast media with fresh media at the beginning of each cycle in order to achieve optimal cutting speed.
What Are The Benefits of Sponge-Blasting Machines?
A sponge blasting machine can be used for surface preparation, pre-commissioning or operational cleaning, and – optionally but concurrently – profiling in accordance with strict SSPC standards. This remarkably low-dust and low-rebound (ricochet) technique is a dry, safe, relatively low-pressure (~70-100 PSI) method that lowers maintenance costs, increases productivity, and safeguards the environment and workplace. In addition, it may be recycled for an efficient reusereuse of six to ten times, which lowers costs and drastically lowers disposal fees for a “greener” footprint than conventional techniques like sandblasting.
When compared to traditional abrasives, the sponge blasting procedure actually lowers dust levels by up to 98%, allowing for blasting close to other trades and delicate equipment—often while it is still in use. This results in industry-leading surface cleanliness and greater visibility, which not only improves safety and cuts downtime but also ensures long-lasting coating life and asset protection.
What Are The Industrial Uses of Sponge Blasting Machines?
Sponge blasting machines are excellent for maintaining railroad rolling stock, depainting oil and gas pipelines, inspecting projects, shipyard repairs, nuclear decontamination, general industrial coating, and rust removal. The media is also widely used in civil engineering contracts to remove soot, environmental pollutants, graffiti, and process stains from buildings, bridges, and other structures. The outcome is a fantastic technique for renovating interiors or facades.
The combination of closed-cell urethane sponge granules and aluminium oxide (Alox) abrasive particles in sponge blast media guarantees low-dust blast cleaning procedures. Aircraft and top maintenance experts use this material with Alox 320 or 220 screen-size abrasives to remove paint coatings layer by layer without harming delicate metallic or composite surfaces.
How Sponge Blasting Machine Removes Paint Layers?
A sponge blasting machine is made to swiftly and efficiently remove coatings and paint layers while producing the least amount of dust possible. A wide range of tasks are carried out by the sponge blasting machine and sponge media, such as thorough blast cleaning and surface preparation, selective coating layer removal from fragile substrates, and even surface decontamination without causing any damage to the substrate.
Because of this, it can be used for a variety of industries and applications, including deburring, polishing, forming, and other surface preparation tasks that are challenging to do with conventional technology.
Concluding Remarks
Using a sponge blasting machine significantly reduces the amount of confinement required because conventional abrasives absorb less rebound energy, resulting in a stronger rebound (a fact that poses risks to the operator). This means that a wider area must be isolated because the abrasive must be contained. When you combine this benefit with its remarkable adaptability and recyclability with over 20 different types of micro-abrasives, it can be a great substitute for traditional methods.
