Dry Ice Blasting is a cleaning method with blasting that is similar to sand blasting, bead blasting, or soda blasting, where the medium is driven by the flow of high pressure air (or other inert gas) to hit the surface to be cleaned. Dry Ice Blasting is a revolutionary blasting method that uses small, compact dry ice pellets as the blasting material. These pellets are accelerated in a jet of compressed air similar to that used in traditional blasting methods.
Dry Ice Blasting is designed to replace the high pressure cleaning and traditional blasting methods that use materials such as sand, glass and plastic as abrasive agents. In addition, a wide range of other cleaning methods that involve the use of hazardous chemicals, solvents, etc., can be replaced by this cleaning method as well.
The Process Of Cleaning with Dry Ice Blasting Works in 3 Ways:
1. Kinetic Energy
The kinetic energy is transferred from the medium to the surface of dry ice, at this speed, it hits the dirt, and then is converted into heat which causes sublimation,the process of the phase that changes the solid to gas.
2. The difference in temperature
In certain conditions, the dirt and the substrate on the surface crack and loosen due to cold flow of blasting. Dry ice has a temperature of -78.5 ยบ C. The two different materials have different cooling speeds, and this weakens the bond between the two materials, allowing the dry ice to permeate the existing coating.
3. Solvent Removed
When the dry ice is transformed into carbon dioxide gas, the volume will increase suddenly and CO2 gas will expand lifting dirt up from the surface. This effect of sublimation rapidly increases the volume of the gas and pushes the dirt from the surface so that it falls off.
Dry ice blasting has unique benefits and is superior to many traditional blasting mediums used for the following reasons:
- It is a non-abrasive cleaning method and non-conductive or flammable.
- It is environmentally friendly and contains no secondary contaminants such as solvents or grit/residue.
- It is clean and approved for use in almost any food industry.
- It is most likely to be used in places that are difficult to reach without time-consuming disassembly.
- It can be used without damaging active electrical or mechanical parts or creating fire hazards during cleanup.
- It can be used to remove production residues, release agents, contaminants, paints, oils and biofilms.
- It can be used for many general cleaning applications in many industries such as construction, computers, food, manufacturing, medical and more.
The unique feature of
dry ice blasting equipment, is that the dry ice evaporates on contact with the surface to be cleaned. Treated surfaces are therefore left dry and clean, without any detergent residue or blasting material. Because the process is completely dry and non-conductive, Dry Ice Blasting can be used where other methods are not suitable. For example, electric motors and electrical equipment, pneumatic or hydraulic components can be cleaned up immediately using this method.
Wanna see more? Look at some videos which show the process in action. Dry Ice Blasting produces no waste products. Only the layers that have been removed remain to be thrown away, and this can usually be swept or vacuumed off the floor of the object treated. This is absolutely ideal for removing coatings such as adhesives, varnishes, oils, grease, coal dust, soot, mold release agents and bitumen.
Dry Ice Blasting will often allow a company's production equipment to be cleaned during operation without the need for dismantling and costly downtime. Because it is non-abrasive, the surface is treated gently, and this system can be used on fragile surfaces such as aluminum nickel, chromium and soft metals. The process is dry, and there is no waste material produced. This means that cleaning can be done quickly without affecting the production process in the industry.
