Glass Beads

Benefits of Using Glass Bead Media

Abrasive blasting using glass beads offers a number of key benefits. The surface of a part can be cleaned quickly and efficiently without removing a significant amount of metal. Cleaning, deburring, peening and finishing can all be performed in one operation, which can result in substantial time and cost savings. Glass Impact Beads are manufactured from recycled glass, making it one of the more environmentally-friendly forms of abrasive blasting materials. 

Specific Advantages of Glass Media Blasting When Used in Various Metal Finishing Functions Include:

• Deburring: Removes burrs from the corners and edges of a metal part, allowing for proper assembly and operation of the finished product.
• Peening: Glass media blasting offers a cost-effective, stress-resistant method of creating a uniform surface on a metal part.
• Cleaning: Thorough cleaning is an essential part of electroplating and other metal finishing process — glass blasting media will effectively remove surface debris without any resulting dimensional changes. 
• Finishing: Glass media blasting with smaller beads can produce a smoother finish, while the use of larger beads will create a more textured surface if desired. 

Two Types of Glass Beads

Glass beads can range from very coarse to very fine and everything in between, making it easy to customize the blasting media to the specific metal finishing application.

• Coarser beads offer a more intense peening process, useful in applications where a brighter surface finish is required.
• Fine beads, on the other hand, produce a greater impact per pound, resulting in a faster cleaning process that is suited for removing lighter soils. Fine beads are also more capable of reaching smaller, tighter spaces.