Dies must withstand temperatures in excess of 375 degrees Celsius and pressures of well over 100,000 psi (by way of comparison a power washer runs at 2,500 psi).
To help dies withstand these extreme conditions they go through a nitriding process after inspection and correction.
Our robust automatic Cougar + wet blasting machine (or vapor blasting machine) has been designed with tough extrusion die cleaning operations in mind.
And because the requirements for extrusion die cleaning vary from one manufacturer to the next, we’ve designed the Cougar + to be highly configurable so it’s an excellent fit for all sorts of operations.
The image above is an excellent demonstration of the effect wet-blasting, or vapor blasting to give it its other name, has on composite surfaces.
Note how the water evenly sticks to the clean wet-blasted area on the right and is repelled from the un-finished surface on the left. A similar effect occurs with adhesives, lacquers, and paints.
As covered in previous posts, wet blasting is highly effective at preparing composite surfaces for bonding, lacquering or painting, but what Vapormatt wet blasting machines are most suited to the task?
In the same way wet blasting perfectly prepares composites for bonding, it can also prepare composites for lacquering, painting or other coatings.
Wet blasting removes waxy residues, grease, and other contaminants, whilst creating a ‘wet-out’ surface to a specific Ra surface roughness that is perfect for the even application of coatings.
Dry blasting, brush finishing, peel ply, wet and dry abrasive papers and other types of finishing can result in damage to composite fibres, that in turn can compromise the integrity of the component.
The danger of this is increased when operator error is taken into consideration, dry blasting for too long for example.
Perfect preparation for composite bonding – The reliability and strength of composite bonding is significantly improved with effective surface preparation.
