Glass Beads
Glass Beads are a round, spherical media that produce a softer and brighter finish angular medias. Glass Beads are used for blasting, peening, honing, cleaning, and light deburring.
Glass Beads
Glass beads are manufactured from lead-free, soda lime-type glass, containing no free silica that is made into preformed round, ball shapes. They produce a much smoother and brighter finish than angular abrasives. Glass bead blasting produces a clean, bright, peened, satin finish, without dimensional change of the parts. They can be recycled approximately 30 times. Chemically inert and environmentally friendly, glass beads are an acceptable method of metal cleaning or surface finishing when properly controlled.
Available in a wide range of sizes, glass beads are primarily used in blasting cabinets for honing, polishing, peening, blending, finishing, removing light burrs, and cleaning most light foreign matter. For delicate thin-walled parts and thin welds, peening with glass bead abrasive material provides the right balance of stress relief without over-stressing and causing damage.
Benefits
- Precision Finishing on Metal Parts
- Highly Durable and Reusable
- Round Shape
- Lighter than Steel Shot for Peening Applications
- Available Meet MIL-9954D
- Silica Free
Applications
- Peening and Cleaning of Metal Surfaces
- Surface Preparation
- Food Service, Hospital / Medical, and Engine Blasting
- Honing
- Light Deburring
- Creating a Uniform Surface Finish / Profile
- Paint Additive to Create Reflective Properties
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Sandblasting with glass beads provides the flexibility to eliminate many types of surface imperfections, including burrs, corrosion, and paint elimination resulting in a peened bright to matte surface finish. Another significant advantage of utilizing glass beads for sandblasting is because this process generates a comparatively small amount of dust. It is in part because glass beads can be blasted at a lower PSI than other mechanisms. Reduced dust levels enhance operators’ clarity during the blasting process, allowing them to operate more efficiently. Less dirt and dust also saves time and decreases the costs associated with maintaining the work area, which can have a definite impact on the long-term operating costs.
Glass beads blasting is used in a wide range of manufacturing processes. Finer glass beads are well-suited for creating a very smooth surface finish often with a satin-matte finish.
Medium-size glass beads are more suitable choice when working with metals such as aluminum and stainless steel. This grade is ideal for covering or hiding imperfections, scratches, and machine marks on the substrate surface.
Large glass beads work well for cleaning and light deburring of rough surfaces found on many metal castings and various automotive parts. Coarser grades will leave a more heavily peened look and a brighter surface finish.
ADVANTAGES OF GLASS BEAD ABRASIVE BLASTING
Deburring
Eliminates burrs from the corners and edges of a part, allowing for proper construction and maintenance of the part.
Cleaning
The cleaning process is essential for electroplating, and other metal finishing processes — glass bead blasting media will effectively eliminate surface imperfections without any resulting dimensional variations.
Peening
Glass bead media blasting provides a cost-effective, stress-resistant process of forming a stable surface on a part.
Finishing
Glass media blasting with smaller beads can produce a smoother surface, and the use of larger beads can create a more textured and brighter surface.
Specifications
Glass Bead Specifications |
||
|---|---|---|
Grade |
Average Particle Sizethe smaller the mesh number, the coarser the grit |
Spec Sheet |
| Extra Coarse | 20/30 Mesh (560-850 micron) |  |
| 30/40 Mesh (425-560 micron) | ||
| Coarse | 40/50 Mesh (325-425 micron) | |
| 50/70 Mesh (212-325 micron) | ||
| Medium-Coarse | 60/80 Mesh (165-250 micron) | |
| Medium | 70/100 Mesh (150-212 micron) | |
| 80/120 Mesh(125-165 micron) | ||
| Medium-Fine | 100/170 Mesh (90-150 micron) | |
| 120/200 Mesh (75-125 micron) | ||
| Fine | 140/230 Mesh (65-105 micron) | |
| 170/325 Mesh (45-90 micron) | ||
Glass Bead Specifications
|
||
|---|---|---|
Grade |
Average Particle Sizethe smaller the mesh number, the coarser the grit |
Spec Sheet |
| Extra Coarse | Mil-3 (560-850 micron) | |
| Mil-4 (425-560 micron) | ||
| Coarse | Mil-5 (325-425 micron) | |
| Mil-6 (212-325 micron) | ||
| Medium-Coarse | Mil-7 (165-250 micron) | |
| Medium | Mil-8 (150-212 micron) | |
| Mil-9 (125-165 micron) | ||
| Medium-Fine | Mil-10 (90-150 micron) | |
| Mil-11 (75-125 micron) | ||
| Fine | Mil-12 (65-105 micron) | |
| Mil-13 (45-90 micron) | ||
Additional Information
| Selected Package Gross Weight | N/A |
|---|---|
| Mesh Size / Grade | 20-30 Mesh – Extra Coarse Grade, 30-40 Mesh – Extra Coarse Grade, 40-50 Mesh – Coarse Grade, 50-70 Mesh – Coarse Grade, 60-80 Mesh – Medium-Coarse Grade, 70-100 Mesh – Medium Grade, 80-120 Mesh – Medium Grade, 100-170 Mesh – Medium-Fine Grade, 120-200 Mesh – Medium-Fine Grade, 140-230 Mesh – Fine Grade, 170-325 Mesh – Fine Grade, Mil-3 – Extra Coarse Grade, Mil-4 – Extra Coarse Grade, Mil-5 – Coarse Grade, Mil-6 – Coarse Grade, Mil-7 – Medium-Coarse Grade, Mil-8 – Medium Grade, Mil-9 – Medium Grade, Mil-10 – Medium-Fine Grade, Mil-11 – Medium-Fine Grade, Mil-12 – Fine Grade, Mil-13 – Fine Grade |
| Package Size | 1 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb, 25 lb, 50 lb |
Note: Images are for comparison purposes only.
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