For over 60 years, Composition Materials has been a leading supplier of walnut shell abrasives.
In the 1960s, in collaboration with the US Navy, Composition Materials was a pioneer in the development of an innovative coating removal technology known as walnut shell blasting. Used on submarines and aircraft carriers, walnut shell blasting was a breakthrough in accomplishing the removal of the top coating without damaging the expensive undercoats.
Prior to the introduction of walnut shell blasting, coatings were traditionally stripped down to the bare metal substrate, which then necessitated the replacement of the expensive undercoats.
This innovative and economical coating removal method saves a considerable amount of time and money. Presently, walnut shell blasting is being employed across a wide range of applications and industries.
Advantages of Walnut Shell Blasting Media
Walnut shell blasting media (Figure 1) offers a number of benefits. For instance, it is non-toxic, environmentally friendly and it can preserve gel coats, base coats and primer while removing the top coats.
The media is long-lasting, reusable, and biodegradable, limits the cycle time of finishing operations, can conserve microfinishes and is a replacement to sandblasting.
Figure 1. Walnut shell blasting media. Image Credit: Composition Materials
Specifications of Walnut Shell Blasting Media
Walnut shell blasting media has a specific gravity of 1.2-1.4, hardness of MOH 3.5 and Rockwell 91, and is granular in appearance. Composition Materials can supply English walnut shell and Black walnut shell grades.
Applications of Walnut Shell Blasting
Walnut shell blasting can be utilized in applications such as:
- Air blasting, wheel blasting and tumbling operations
- Blast cleaning for aircraft engines and steam turbines
- Deburring, deflashing and finishing operations
- Coatings removal, paint stripping and blast cleaning cars, buidlings, bridges, outdoor statuaries and graffiti removal
- Deflashing components in electronics industries, zinc die casting and aluminum
- 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.