AM Solutions presented a Workshop on Wet and Dry sandblasting at A&T 2023 in Turin
From the 22nd to the 24th of February, AM Solutions – Manufacturing service partner participated in the A&T – Automation & Testing exhibition in Turin. It was an interesting chance to meet different actors in the additive market and to see how the way of doing manufacturing is changing nowadays.
During the exhibition, our Sales Manager Ing. Da Prato held a workshop related to the comparison of wet and dry sandblasting on AM components. This kind of processes – with the use of different media and treatment times – are widely used in this sector since AM manufacturing components surface can present in as built condition very high roughness values that need to be improved. Dry sandblasting is a widely used technique for cleaning and finishing in different applications, while wet sandblasting is used in specific market niches like aerospace and is less known by general industrial companies but is very efficient on 3D printed parts, this technique projects the abrasive media combined with water by generating a wider impact area on the surface.
In the workshop, we showed different AlSi10Mg and AISI 316L components treated with different combinations of sandblasting methods. Dry sandblasting was conducted with a first corundum step followed by a glass beads one. Regarding wet sandblasting the test was performed either with corundum ceramic beads. Surface analysis and reconstruction has been conducted in order to understand how the AM components surface conditions changed thanks to the different sandblasting processes.