There are a great number of media blasting supplies available; these include mineral abrasive such as aluminum oxide, synthetic abrasives such as plastic and pumice. Depending on the task there is also silica sand which is a very common media, glass beads and crushed glass grit. When blasting on sensitive surfaces there is also biodegradable media such as corn husk, walnut shells and even baking powder.
Aluminum oxide is the hardest of all the available blasting media; it is second only to diamonds in hardness. As it is extremely abrasive it is used to quickly cut through metal. As it creates very little dust it is also quite safe to use. This is the media of choice when the operator is looking for a matte finish on metal.
Coal slag is what is left from the furnaces in power generating stations. As it is an inexpensive media it is often used for general maintenance and is often used when removing paint and rust from ships and bridges.
One of the more gentle blasting media supplies is plastic grit. It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and is a favorite for those who are involved in automotive body work. It is used to strip all the paint from the vehicles body but because of its nature, it does not harm or otherwise affect the body sheet metal. As well as plastic media, pumice is also a favorite for these types of applications.
Perhaps the most popular grit is simply silica sand, it is very inexpensive and quite effective, but it is also dusty. Due to the large volumes of dust that silica sand throws up it is thought that it may cause lung disease and has been banned in a couple of European countries.
An economical grit is crushed glass because it can be recycled a number of times. The finished surface will be smoother when smaller grit is used. Glass beads are used to eliminate the calcium that builds up around swimming pools and hot tubs, both glass grit and glass beads can be used to clean fiberglass and clean tile grout.
The most gentle of all media blasting supplies are corn husk, walnut shells and baking soda. These materials are often used on wood prior to painting; it is gentle to the point where it will not erode the wood grain. These media can also be used to clean jewelry and polish very thin metal.
high quality plastic media blasting supplies are available from Opti-Blast. The media available is excellent for stripping paint from automobiles and aircraft, mold cleaning and other sensitive blasting tasks.
