Q: What is dry ice?
A: Dry ice is the solid form of Carbon Dioxide. Dry Ice is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas found naturally in our atmosphere.
Q: What is dry ice blasting?
A: Dry ice blasting is similar to sand blasting, bead blasting, or soda blasting where a media is accelerated in a pressurized air stream (or other inert gas) to impact the surface to be cleaned.
Q: Why would I use dry ice instead of a traditional blast media?
A: Most other blast media leave secondary waste behind. Dry ice sublimates (vaporizes) upon impact with the surface. All that remains is the contaminate you are removing. Also, since dry ice vaporizes on impact, the process can be used to clean complicated cavities where typical grit blast media will become trapped.
Q: How does the process work?
A: Unlike other blast media, dry ice has a temperature of -109°F (-78.3°C). Because of the temperature difference between the dry ice particles and the surface being treated, thermal shock occurs during the process of dry ice blasting. This causes a breakdown of the bond between two dissimilar materials.
Q: What happens to the contaminate?
A: Contaminates can be dry, wet, hard or soft. Dry contaminates will break up into small chips and can be swept up or vacuumed. If the particles are large enough, they do not become airborne. If the contaminate is wet, such as grease or oils, the dry ice stream will move or push the liquid away much like a high pressure water stream would, except that the surface where the contaminate was will be dry and clean.
Q: Will dry ice blasting damage the substrate?
A: Our dry ice blasting process will not damage the substrate. The size of the dry ice pellets and their velocity can be optimized to remove the contaminate while being non-abrasive to the substrate. Our process can clean delicate chrome or nickel plated tools, soft aluminum or brass alloys, wire insulation, and even circuit boards without causing damage.
Q: Can you use dry ice blasting to clean hot tools online?
A: Yes. In fact, dry ice blasting cleans faster when the substrate is hot.
Q: Does dry ice blasting cool the substrate?
A: Yes, but not dramatically. The amount of cooling depends on the substrate material, the dwell time of the dry ice blast stream, and the dry ice usage. For example, a 30 inch (76.2 cm) by 30 inch (76.2 cm) rubber mold may have an initial temperature of 325°F (162.8°C). After the tool has been blasted clean (approximately 12 minutes), the temperature of the mold is about 300°F (148.9°C).
Q: Will the process create condensation?
A: Condensation occurs when the temperature of the substrate falls below the dew point. The dew point varies with climate and the daily weather patterns. When cleaning hot substrates, condensation will rarely occur because the temperature of the surface will stay above the dew point. If condensation does form, you can control it by using heaters, heat lamps, or warm air knives.
Q: Is it safe to use dry ice blasting outside?
A: Yes. CO2 dry ice pellets are safe to use in outdoor blasting applications. In fact, many organizations have given our process their stamp of approval for the use of pellets in outdoor blasting applications.