Choosing a garnet abrasive blasting grit abrasive for medical devices

Abrasive blasting is an effective option for cleaning medical devices, but it’s important to choose the right grit size.

Garnet blasting makes use of an air compressor to propel blast abrasive grains through a nozzle at high velocity onto your chosen project surface. It has various applications, including boats and marines.

When working with something as delicate as medical supplies, make sure that the grit size is very fine. Use dry blasting to avoid the potential rust that could develop from wet blasting garnet. 

Some consider garnet to be too abrasive for medical devices, and recommend the use of softer media such as glass beads, corn cob, etc. There’s an even better option for your abrasive blasting jobs – superoxalloy. 

The Best Option for Abrasive Blast Media

With the EpiX and KinetiX superoxalloy abrasives from 10X Engineered Materials, the blasting process will be more effective and more efficient.

While these are rough abrasives, they can be blasted at a lower PSI to reduce the amount of pressure being applied to the surface. They will likely not work as quickly or efficiently as they do when blasted at high pressure, but projects like medical devices require a more gentle approach when it comes to abrasive blasting.

They’re made up of polymorphous particles, meaning they can perform more than one job at a time during a blasting job, allowing the process to go quicker. Additionally, they can be reused many times, for either future medical device blasting or other industrial projects. 

They’re also safer than alternatives like sand and have no free silica, no beryllium, no heavy metals, and no crystalline structures.

Currently, KinetiX and EpiX are available from abrasive distributors around the US. If you don’t see a distributor near you, contact 10X and we will work with you to get you what you need. EpiX abrasive, which is best for precision applications such as powder coating and medical applications, is also available to purchase directly from the 10X Engineered Materials website.