What is Wet Blasting?

Wet blasting is also known as wet abrasive blasting, vapor blasting, dustless blasting, or slurry blasting. Wet blasting is a method people use to remove coatings, contaminants, and corrosion from hard surfaces. The wet blasting method was innovated after the ban on sandblasting method. This method is similar to dry blasting, the main difference between wet blasting and dry blasting is that wet blasting media is mixed with water before hitting on the surface.

How does wet blasting work?

Wet blasting machines have a special design that mixes abrasive media with water in high volume pump. After abrasive media and water are well mixed, they will be sent to the blasting nozzles. Then the mixture would blast the surface under the pressure.

Wet abrasive blasting applications:

1.     Protecting wet blasters and the environment:

Wet blasting is an alternative to abrasive blasting in most applications. In addition to substituting for abrasive blasting, it can also better protect the environment on the basis of abrasive blasting. As we all know, abrasive blasting creates dust particles from breaking down abrasives. This dust could damage both workers and the environment. With wet blasting, there is rarely dust created, and wet blasters can work in close proximity with minimal precaution measures.

2.     Protecting the target surface

For fragile surfaces and soft surfaces, using the wet blasting method can prevent cause damage to the surfaces. This is because wet blasters can operate effectively at lower PSI. In addition, water reduces the friction it creates between surfaces and abrasives. Therefore, if your target surface is soft, the wet abrasive blasting method is a great choice.

Types of wet blast systems:

There are three wet blast systems available: manual system, automated system, and robotic system.

Manual system: Manual system allows wet blasters to operate by hand and they are the ones who position or turn the products being blasted.

Automated system: For this system, parts and products are moved mechanically. This system could save labor costs and is mostly used for factories.

Robotic system: This system requires minimal labor, the surface finishing system is programmed to repeat the process.

Here is some basic information about wet abrasive blasting. In most conditions, wet blasting can be used as an alternative to abrasive blasting. It is important for blasters to identify the hardness of their target surface and whether they should use wet blasting or not.