Inappropriate surface preparation leads to coating failure and impacts the surface quality

Several factors are taken into consideration while choosing an abrasive for surface preparation. Surface cleaning plays an important role to prepare concrete surfaces for applying coatings intended for light-duty service. According to experts, more than two thirds of all coating failures are attributed to poor surface preparation that could have been prevented.

Here are the best ways to get a clean concrete surface.
Shot blasting
Lokesh Saxena, Managing Director, DISA India Ltd, says, “The latest way to clean concrete -that is fast gaining popularity – is shot blasting. Aesthetic needs, especially for horizontal concrete applications and concrete slabs, are best met by the highly controlled, efficient and consistent process that shot blasting provides.”

Crushed glass grit
Praveena Jolly, Business Development Associate, Blastline India Pvt Ltd, explains, “There are various factors to take into consideration when choosing your abrasive for surface preparation. If the objective is to clean concrete surface, the most efficient and economical way is to use crushed glass abrasive. Crushed glass is the latest innovative product to enter the abrasive’s sector and arguably the best one yet.”
She adds, “The advantages and benefits of crushed glass is multi-faceted and trumps all the other abrasives currently available in the market.”

Crushed glass grit is made from 100 per cent recycled glass and contains no heavy metal or silica, so it conforms to the present market’s inclination to being green and eco-friendly. It has an angular shape and a Mohs hardness of 6.0. It needs only to be blasted at 90 psi to achieve optimal results and its unique properties gives off translucent dust when blasted, which means the operator’s improved visibility of the surface can significantly improve productivity and efficiency.

Jolly claims that Blastline India, is the leading supplier for the surface preparation industry and they are the first to introduce this abrasive to the Indian market.

Air-assisted or air-less blasting of suitable media
Pratik Sikka, Head of Marketing, Accumech Solutions, opines, “There can be many mechanical methods to clean the concrete surfaces such as rubbing, brushing, etc but most efficient and time saving approach is through air-assisted orair-less blasting of suitable media (abrasives) or a mixture of abrasives.”

Blasting is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of sand against a surface under high-pressure that is used to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface, or remove surface contaminants.

Sikka adds, “Suitable media should be chosen on the basis of the desired results over the substrate, which shall vary for different compositions and desired results.”

Latest surface blasting equipment for cleaning concrete surface
Wheelabrator shot blast machine for concrete
Saxena from DISA informs, “Wheelabrator offers a complete range of shot blast machines suitable for the cleaning of concrete surfaces. These include fully automatic shot blast machines for the preparation of large surface areas, such as block layers and paving slabs; manual air blast machines for individual concrete parts, such as palisades, part furnishings and pillars; and manual wet and air blast machines for concrete renovation.”

DISA’s machines for concrete applications deliver a superb surface consistency and an enhanced surface effect, as well as improved operating safety and environmental protection. Saxena says, “Customers benefit from our experience in blasting concrete parts: Wheelabrator machines for concrete blasting are equipped with a minimum of two double disc design blast wheels. Even at high throughput speeds, a consistent finish is achieved across the whole surface area. Our solutions offer high outputs without compromising quality, resulting in a low cost of preparation per piece, and delivering a much higher perceived product value.”

Graco’s EcoQuip 2
Jolly from Blastline informs, “Graco’s EcoQuip 2, the newest technology in vapour abrasive blasting which precisely injects moist abrasive into the blast stream, can suppress dust levels up to 92 per cent. This is not to be confused with slurry blasting, which is blasting with slurry of air, water and abrasives that ends up wasting too much water and abrasive and creating a significant pool of contaminated water that is difficult to contain and dispose of. Vapour blasting instead only uses minimal water (usually around 0.5 to 1.0 qt/min), which can lead to significant savings in abrasive and water consumption.

Another exceptional trait of this equipment is the MediaTrak, the equipment’s precise media consumption monitoring feature. This feature allows one to not only track, but also control and change the media consumption based on the job at hand.

Blastline India is the authorised distributor for Graco’s high-pressure airless painting machine and the aforementioned EcoQuip 2 in India.

Dustless portable blaster
Accumech’s latest offering is a product by the name of dustless portable blaster which is air-assisted blasting equipment suitable to variety of media (glass beads to sand with water). Sikka from Accumech says, “Our product empowers our clients to operate effectively in an eco-friendly manner; the operation of machine is very handy and the power consumption is lower than the other substitutes.”

Wheelabrator machines for concrete blasting are equipped with a minimum of two double disc design blast wheels.
LokeshSaxena, Managing Director, DISA India Ltd

Graco’sEcoQuip 2, the newest technology in vapour abrasive blasting which precisely injects moist abrasive into the blast stream, can suppress dust levels up to 92 per cent.
Praveena Jolly, Business Development Associate, Blastline India Pvt Ltd

Our product empowers our clients to operate effectively in an eco-friendly manner.
Pratik Sikka, Head Of Marketing, Accumech Solutions