What is Silicon Carbide?
Do you have a heavily rusted part that needs blasting? Then get silicon carbide. So, what is silicon carbide? Silicon carbide is a wet or dry blasting abrasive that is great at deep etching and many other tasks.
Silicon Carbide’s Properties
The two attributes of silicon carbide that define what it can do are its angular shape and its aggressive nature. Silicon carbide has an angular shape with a sharp cutting edge that etches contaminants off your parts quickly. It’s also one of the most aggressive media, ranking at 9.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. Aluminum oxide, the other common angular abrasive, is a 9.2 on that scale. Due to its angular shape and aggressive nature, it can complete a plethora of tasks.
Deep Etching
Silicon Carbide is best known for its deep etching abilities. As mentioned above, this abrasive has a sharp cutting edge that quickly removes contaminants. While this helps, it is a combination of this sharp edge and silicon carbide’s aggressive nature that allows it to etch your parts deeply. The aggressiveness of this media cuts even the most stubborn, baked on particles off your parts. Due to this, it’s very useful in the remanufacturing business, because it restores your parts functionality when it removes contaminants. However,as we will discuss later, it does not warp the surface of your parts when it deep etches. Silicon carbide deep etches the heaviest of corrosion off your parts, restoring their functionality.
Strips Paints and Coating
If you need to strip paint and coating, silicon carbide can do that too. To remove coating, use a fine mesh silicon carbide. The fine mesh is aggressive enough that it will strip the coating back to the bare material. However, this mesh size will not be aggressive enough to remove burrs from your parts. It, instead, restores your parts back to their original form. Paint and coating removal is great if you are going for a more natural, industrial look for your parts. You might also want to remove paint, to repaint the surface. If that is you, then you will want to prep the surface, not just remove its coating. A fine mesh version of this media will not prep the surface of your parts. A fine mesh silicon carbide will remove coating from your parts, but will not prep the surface for coating.
Preps the surface
Silicon carbide preps the surface of your parts using a coarse mesh size. The coarse mesh size will adequately prep the surface by roughening it up. This rigid surface will be more adhesive to paint. This is due to a rigid surface having more bonding capabilities with paint than smoother ones because while the paint hits the surface, it latches onto these ridges. If the surface is smooth, there is nothing there for the paint to catch on, and therefore, it will not stay. The rough surface that the coarse silicon carbide provides also makes the paint last longer. The coarseness of this abrasive is great if you work in the restoration or refurbishing business because it will prep your part for coating so that you can bring it back to its original form. Coarse silicon carbide is great at prepping the surface for paint and coating.
Creates a Smooth Finish
Silicon carbide can provide your surface with a smooth finish. You achieve this by using a medium size mesh of this abrasive. The medium size mesh will allow you to cut burrs off your parts. When you cut these burrs off with a medium size mesh, you take away the rigidness of the surface, without roughing it up more. If you were to use a coarser mesh, you would still get the burrs off, but the surface would be rough, not smooth. A smooth surface is preferred by refurbishing businesses that want to restore parts, so they work like they did when they were new. By smoothing the surface, your parts regain enough functionality that it’s as if it were new. A coarse mesh silicon carbide creates a nice smooth finish for your parts.
Has Longevity
Silicon carbide has great longevity. In fact, silicon carbide has the maximum amount of resistance breakdown out of all our abrasives. This is due to its aggressive nature and the clean by flow process. As mentioned earlier, silicon carbide is one of the most aggressive abrasives, ranking at a 9.5 This hardness value, while it contributes to how aggressive the abrasive will be, it also is determined by how durable the abrasive is. For example, diamonds are at a 10 and are extremely hard to break. While silicon carbide is not a 10, a 9.5 score means that it will take a lot to wear down this abrasive. This is great if you plan to blast 24/7 and need something to etch your surface because it will last longer than the other abrasive.
That being said, all of our abrasives are long lasting due to the clean by flow process. The clean by flow process is when the water cushions the abrasive, so it rolls along the contours of your part, instead of bouncing off of it. By rolling on your part, that abrasive doesn’t break, but instead cleans and polishes your parts. The abrasive on your part doesn’t break, therefore it can be used again. Silicone carbide lasts longer in your cabinet because of how hard the material is, and the clean by flow process.
Doesn’t Warp the Surface
Silicon carbide doesn’t warp the surface of your parts. The reason for the lack of harm is that this media cleans by flow, not impact. The water cushions the silicon carbide, allowing it to roll along your part, etching its surface. If water didn’t cushion the abrasive, it would smash into your part, denting the surface and sometimes even taking a layer of the surface off. Both of these are issues because they make your part not work correctly. Silicon carbide preserves the surface of your parts so that they function properly.
Conclusion
Silicon carbide has a lot of amazing benefits. For one, you can remove paint and corrosion with this abrasive. You can also manipulate your part’s finish to be smooth or rigid. Silicon carbide is also great at prepping the surface of your parts. This media is also long lasting due to the clean by flow process and the hardness of the material. Lastly, it doesn’t warp your parts because the water cushions the abrasive on impact. For more information on silicon carbide, and what it can do for your parts, please contact us at 828-202-5563.
