Attività

Abrasive Material

Blasting is carried out with abrasive materials such as chilled iron grit, steel or aluminium oxide grit. Sand or other substances containing free silica must not be used, as anyone exposed to dust from it could develop silicosis.76

In a factory, blasting operations should be carried out in a suitable enclosure or room to protect other personnel from injury and nearby machinery from damage. The ‘blast room’ should be provided with an efficient system of exhaust ventilation, preferably of the down-draught type. During the blasting operation super abrasive material rebounds from the surface of the article with a high velocity. Consequently the operator must be given special protective clothing such as gloves, apron and leggings. A helmet supplied with fresh air at a positive pressure is also necessary to protect the blaster from both flying particles and harmful dust.82

Because of the friction between the finely divided particles of grit and the blasting hose and nozzle, discharges of static electricity occasionally take place. It is advisable to earth the blasting hose and nozzle.

The sand blasting technique is based on blasting an abrasive material in granular, powdered or other form through a nozzle at very high speed and pressure onto specific areas of the garment surface to give the desired abraded look. A straighter surface and less effect can be obtained with the sand blasting process than with the sanding process, and sand blasting can be done in less time. For this reason, it is more advantageous in terms of costs. However, silicon grains that are located in the sand can cause silicosis disease. The sand blasting process is now prohibited in most countries because of its negative effect on human health (Suglobal Tekstil, 2013; Paul and Naik, 1997a; Paul and Pardeshi, 2003).

Very hard surfaces can be studied by the abrasion of the surface with a sheet of abrasive material, such as silicon carbide or carborundum paper. At this point a number of different methods may be used to analyze the abraded material. In essence, any solid sampling technique that is capable of handling fine powders—KBr pellet, diffuse reflectance, ATR, photoacoustic, etc.—may be used to study the material. An interesting variant is to use diffuse reflectance to study the abrasive (see the reference to the silicon carbide method in Section 4) for the residual material.