Copper Slag a Superior Sandblasting Media Replacement
Abrasive sandblasting media has been used for years for cleaning and surface finishes in both the industrial and construction industries, including products such as corn cob, steel grit, aluminum oxide, walnut shell, crushed glass, pumice, steel shot, silicon carbide, black slag, and more. Although, coal slag abrasives are often the first choice for a diversity of maintenance blasting and general purpose repair, copper slag has proven to be a superior replacement for coal slag.
Copper slag is a byproduct produced from smelting and refining copper. These processes make up a large volume of copper slag, which is a non-metallic dust mixed with rock and soot. However, Black Beauty sand blasting is often considered a better choice due to the extremely low cost of this abrasive. Even though the selection of the right media is important to obtain the desired results when it comes to cleaning surfaces, removing paint, or obtaining a smooth finish. Of course, there are other Black Beauty products to choose from, but if making the decision is your privilege, try copper slag for your next blasting project.
Although Black Beauty abrasive products are low free silica, chemically inert, and low dusting, these factors does not mean that copper slag products are of inferior quality or risky characteristics. In fact, copper slag is actually the chosen alternative to Black Diamond sand as a blasting medium for a larger number of building applications and this slag is also the most popular medium for industrial cleaning of equipment and smelting furnaces with the aid of high pressure spraying and direct blasting techniques.
Same as slag coal, copper slag can be used to prepare large surfaces that have to be painted along with being very useful to remove all rust residues and unwanted finish in any metallic structure and it shares similar properties of Black Beauty slag such as low moisture content, hardness, and long-lasting results. However, copper slag leaves minimum dust. When etching permanent bonding of coatings is necessary, copper slag provides you with better results than any other abrasive you have tried before.
Definitely, copper slag does not constitute an environmental or health risk, as opposite to sandblasting media. Silica is harmful when inhaled for long periods of time, besides begin a source of pollution, and obviously, this process cannot offer a lifetime guarantee, meaning that it may come the time when a new blasting process has to be performed whether for maintenance or repair.
Copper slag is often a more effective abrasive solution, with no or very little environmental threats that can be used as any other slag product, but obtaining faster and better results, and therefore it is actually largely used in the building field.
A Copper Slag Abrasive Blasting Grit Overview
Copper slag is actually one of the most popular abrasives for the preparation of surfaces in the construction industry where steel and concrete cleaning, repair and maintenance are needed. Although, this is a byproduct industrially called iron silicate, but commercialized under the name of copper slag because technically it is the waste of copper concentrates resulted from the smelting process of this metal. Being a granulated abrasive blasting grit, it is used to remove old paint, rust, and other contaminants off surfaces.
This abrasive is also widely used in shipbuilding, chemicals steel manufacturing, oil and gas chemical structures due to its properties, including <25ppm of chloride>
