Sandblasting abrasives

Choosing the right abrasive for each blasting application is essential. With the wide variety of products available, selecting the most suitable media can seem challenging. The guidelines below will help you identify the appropriate abrasive for your needs.

Abrasive selection must be made carefully, taking into account all influencing parameters to ensure optimal performance. Our team is available to advise you on your specific application, and we can also perform tests on your parts in our workshop.

You can order your abrasive media directly online from our store.

The Three Main Families of Blasting Abrasives

1. Angular Abrasives

(sandblasting sand, aluminum oxide, metallic grit…)

• Used for stripping, deoxidizing, engraving, or deburring
• Ideal for creating surface roughness
• They remove material from the surface
• Not recommended for precision mechanical parts (risk of dimensional changes)

2. Spherical Abrasives

(glass beads, ceramic beads, metallic shot)

• Used for cleaning, refurbishing, or satin-finishing metal
• Suitable for shot-peening to induce residual stress
• Used for weld finishing (stainless steel, aluminium…)
• They hammer the surface rather than cutting it

3. Soft or Gentle Abrasives

(plastic media, vegetal media, sodium bicarbonate)

• Used for cleaning or stripping without damaging the substrate
• Ideal for delicate parts
• Sodium bicarbonate is water‑soluble, making post‑blasting cleaning easier

Basic Rules for Using Blasting Abrasives

The impact force of each abrasive grain depends on its grit size and the compressed‑air pressure.

• The nozzle‑to‑part distance also affects impact energy.
• Harder abrasives tolerate higher air pressure and produce stronger impacts.
• Durable abrasives can be recycled several times before being eliminated as dust.
• Fine grains generate more impacts than coarse grains at equal flow rate.
• Surface roughness from angular abrasives is directly linked to grit size.
• Soft metals are easier to roughen than hard metals.
• Hard and brittle surface layers are easier to remove than soft materials (rubber, glue…).
• Two successive treatments may be required: one for stripping, one for satin‑finishing.
• Glass microbeads projected at excessive pressure shatter on impact and become angular, progressively altering the final surface finish.