Once cut, machined and heat treated, stainless steel parts to be used for medical applications (see tweezer parts above) need to be deburred and polished to a high shine. The part in the top of the picture above is ready for surface finishing and some light edge rounding.
To remove the heat treat discoloration, the part was first blasted with a Coarse Glass Bead. This created a uniform, satin-like surface finish on the part. In this situation, a larger bead was used on the hard metal in order to keep the finish a bright as possible and make polishing a little easier..
After blasting, the part was barrel tumbled with a Steel Polishing Media to smooth out the finish, provide some light edge rounding and prepare the part for an additional polishing step. A final step such as a burnishing wheel or electro-polishing would create a near-mirror finish.
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Generally, in a blasting operation, larger Glass Bead will result in a brighter, peened finish while finer Glass Bead will produce a smoother, matte finish.
Hello,
regarding your comment:
"In this situation, a larger bead was used on the hard metal in order to keep the finish a bright as possible and make polishing a little easier."
Please clarify how/ what makes a larger bead size result in better finish and polishing.
Thank you in advance!
Best Regards,
Julie