Dry Ice Blasting

9/21/2020 (Permalink)

Technician performing dry ice blasting in customer's attic

What is Dry Ice Blasting?

Dry ice blasting is a revolutionary blasting method that uses dry ice pellets. (Co2 in solid form) as the blasting material. The process is very environmentally friendly and provides a fast and effective alternative to traditional methods of cleaning industrial production equipment.

The Benefits to Dry Ice Blasting

• A Dry cleaning process - Dry ice blasting is a completely dry process because dry ice pellets consist of CO2 and vaporize immediately on contact with the surface to be cleaned. 
• No waste disposal - The system produces no waste products. Only the coating that has been removed remains to be disposed of, and this can usually be swept or vacuumed from the floor. 
• Environmentally friendly - Dry Ice blasting is completely non-toxic and no hazardous chemicals are used. Costs connected with disposal of blasting materials and solvents are saved. 
• No abrasion - Dry ice blasting is non-abrasive and therefore surfaces are treated very gently. Wear and tear resulting from the use of steel brushes, scrapers and other blasting materials is avoided. 
• Improved production quality - Dry ice blasting often allows for your production equipment to be cleaned while in operation without a need for dismantling or costly downtime. 

Dry Ice Blasting is a Three-Step Process

• Kinetic - When Dry ice pellets are accelerated in a jet of compressed air and strike a surface at the speed of sound, they crack and loosen the coating of the surface being treated. 
• Thermal - The low temperature of dry ice pellets (-79 degree C/110 Degree F) makes the coating brittle, cracks it and loosens it. This allows dry ice to permeate the coating. 
• Sublimation - dry ice penetrates the coating and immediately sublimes (passes directly from solid to vapor state). This results in a 700-fold increase in volume, an explosive effect that lifts the coating off the surface.