Preparation step in which angular grit, most often aluminum oxide in sizes from about 16 to 60 mesh, is propelled by compressed air at the surface. It strips oxides and contamination and creates the anchor profile that splats lock onto. Grit size, pressure, angle, distance and grit condition control the profile, and spraying should follow within a few hours, before the surface oxidizes or gets handled.
Grit blasting at 60 psi with 24 grit, 45 degrees, then straight into the booth, no fingerprints.
Worn grit rounds off and stops cutting a profile; if the surface looks peened instead of sharp, the media needs topping up or replacing.
Also heard as
- grit blast
- abrasive blasting
- blasting
- blast
Related terms
Anchor profile
The peak-and-valley roughness grit blasting leaves on a surface, which the coating locks onto.
Tooth
Shop word for the bite or roughness left on a blasted surface, the grip a coating needs to hold on.
Embedded grit
Abrasive particles left stuck in the substrate after blasting, visible at the bond line in a cross section.
Pot
Shop name for the pressure blast vessel that holds grit and feeds it into the blast hose.
Flash rust
A thin rust bloom that forms on freshly blasted steel when it sits in humid air before coating.