Composition Materials has been a leading supplier of crushed walnut shell grit products for more than 50 years.
In the 1960s, the company pioneered an innovative coating removal blasting technology called walnut shell blasting with the US Navy. In submarines and aircraft carriers, walnut shell blasting is used to remove the top coating without damaging the expensive undercoats.
Before the introduction of walnut shell blasting, coatings were normally stripped down to bare metal and required the replacement of the undercoat, vinyl coat, and top coat. This coating removal blasting technology also enables selective coating removal and saves significant time and money.
At present, walnut shell blasting is being used safely and effectively across a range of industries and applications.
Advantages of Walnut Shell Blasting Media
Figure 1. Walnut shell blasting media
Walnut shell blasting media (Figure 1) offers a number of benefits. For instance, it is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and hence does not pose any health or environmental hazards. It preserves gel-coats, base, and primer while removing the top coats of paint.
The media is also durable, re-usable and biodegradable and reduces cycle time of finishing operations; it preserves microfinishes and replaces sand to prevent the issue of silicosis. Selective coatings removal is also possible with walnut shell sandblasting.
Specifications of Walnut Shell Blasting Media
Walnut shell blasting media has a granular appearance and a hardness of MOH 3.5 and Rockwell 91. It has a specific gravity of 1.2-1.4. Composition Materials offers premium soft abrasive in black and English walnut shell grades.
Walnut shell grits and walnut shell flours are available in a variety of sizes and come in a packaging size of 50 to 2000lb bags.
Applications of Walnut Shell Blasting
Walnut shell blasting is used in the following applications:
- Blast cleaning for steam turbines aircraft engines
- Crushed walnut shell grit for deburring, deflashing, and finishing operations
- Ground walnut shell blast media for paint stripping and coatings removal
- Deburring in aluminum, plastics, and zinc die casting industries
- Deflashing components in electronics industries
- Excellent for air blasting, wheel blasting, and tumbling operations
- Effective on cars, buildings, boats, bridges, outdoor statuaries, and graffiti removal
- Porosity enhancer for grinding wheels and ceramics in burn-out applications
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Composition Materials.
For more information on this source, please visit Composition Materials.