Vapour blasting is the preferred spelling of wet blasting across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and much of the Commonwealth - and it happens to be the spelling of the country the process was invented in. Norman Ashworth developed it in the UK in the late 1940s, working alongside Sir Frank Whittle on the jet engine programme that would define British aerospace manufacturing for decades. Vapormatt still designs and builds every machine in the UK today.
What vapour blasting is
Water and abrasive media are mixed into a slurry, then projected under compressed air onto a component, cleaning, degreasing, deburring, and finishing it in a single pass - without embedding media, distorting the substrate, or generating airborne dust.
Why vapour blasting matters for UK and EU compliance
Because vapour blasting generates no airborne dust, it sits outside the scope of ATEX compliance requirements that apply to dry blasting processes - there's no combustible dust cloud to manage, no explosion risk to design around, and no extraction system required. That has direct implications under UK and EU health and safety frameworks:
- COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health): no airborne respirable silica or metal particulate to control, since the process generates none
- HSE guidance on respiratory hazards: wet/vapour blasting was established as the safer industrial alternative specifically because it eliminates the silicosis risk associated with dry abrasive processes
- ATEX: not applicable, as there is no combustible dust atmosphere generated by the process
Built in the UK, supplied and supported globally
Vapormatt is a British manufacturer, still owned and run by the fourth generation of the Ashworth family, with every machine engineered in the same country the process was invented in. Whilst Vapormatt wet blasting machines are manufactured in the UK, support, parts, and service are available globally: Vapormatt supplies and supports vapour blasting machines to aerospace, composite, cutting tool, medical implant, additive, wire and cable manufacturers across multiple continents.
What's the difference between vapour blasting and vapor blasting?
No difference in the process - only the spelling. "Vapour" is used across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and much of the Commonwealth; "vapor" is the US spelling. Both refer to the same water-and-abrasive process also known as wet blasting.
Does vapour blasting require ATEX compliance in the UK?
No. Because the process generates no airborne dust, there is no combustible dust atmosphere to manage, so ATEX requirements that apply to dry abrasive blasting do not apply to vapour blasting.
Where are vapour blasting machines manufactured?
Vapormatt designs and builds its machines in the UK, from the same country where the process was originally developed in the 1940s, and supplies them to customers internationally.