The Latest Technologies in Surface Preparation

Dec 25, 2018

Surfaces like metal or steel require cleaning before painting. This is known as surface preparation. It’s important to clean a surface properly to ensure that the performance, service life, and quality of a paint job aren’t affected. Surface preparation is done to remove dust, grease, and dirt from the surface. In New England, industries use the latest technologies to do surface preparation. Two of the technologies commonly used by surface preparation companies in New England are sandblasting and water blasting. The two methods are different, but they both perform the same work. Take a look at the two forms of technologies.

Sandblasting

This is one method of advanced surface preparation in New England. It removes dust, old paint, and dust from surfaces. Sandblasting has two types namely wet sandblasting and dry sandblasting. Wet sandblasting requires water at a high pressure together with sand or a coarse material. Dry sandblasting requires the use of air at a high pressure combined with abrasives or something coarse. The two types of sandblasting both serve the purpose of cleaning the surface.

Sandblasting has an advantage over water blasting in that it’s a better, easier, and a faster way of cleaning a surface. Based on the operation to be done on the surface, the pressure of the cleaning substrate tends to be adjusted in sandblasting. If light cleaning like removing old paint, dust, grit, cobwebs, and rust, then a low pressure is normally used. During deep cleaning like roughening, smoothing surfaces, and shaping a high pressure is normally used.

When you compare sandblasting and sandpapering, sandblasting is more powerful. It reduces the time required to clean a surface from days to hours making it easier for the surface preparation specialists in New England. Pressure washing or steam-cleaning can sometimes be done together with sandblasting to make painting on a surface easier. When you compare wet sandblasting and dry sandblasting, dry sandblasting is more dangerous because it creates dust clouds that are destructive. In some countries, you require to have special permission to carry out sandblasting.

Water Blasting

This type of surface preparation in New England is a safe, eco-friendly, economical, and efficient way of cleaning any type of surface. The advantage of this technology is that any type of surface painted on the exterior can be cleaned without the use of chemicals or harmful toxins being released in the atmosphere. It differs from chemical cleaning in that no rinsing is required because zero residues are left on the surface.

Water blasting equipment has the advantage of allowing you to utilize fan nozzles of various sizes and to adjust pressure based on the condition of the surface. For instance, you can use high pressure when you want to remove adhesives, open pores, remove coats that are layered, or to clean cracks on surfaces that need repair. Low pressure is normally used when you want to get rid of dust, contaminants, and cobwebs.

Water blasting requires a surface specialist in New England to do it to ensure that it’s properly done to make the painting process easier and problem free. When water-blasting equipment isn’t properly handled, it can cause damage and erosion on the surface that needs cleaning. Industries that use this technology need to have the skill of handling the water blasting equipment.

Technologies used in surface preparation tend to change with time. It’s important for industries to have this knowledge, so they can better equip themselves and do excellent work in surface preparation. For the best surface preparation jobs, go to Advanced Prep Coat, Inc.