Blasting with solid carbon dioxide: Investigation of thermal and mechanical removal mechanisms

Cleaning technology is an important factor in the field of production technology as well as service and recycling. Blasting with solid carbon dioxide (dry ice blasting - dib) is generally based on compressed air, which is a flexible but energy consuming acceleration method. To improve the mechanical acceleration by rotational wheel blasting, the main removal mechanisms of dib, mechanical and thermal, have been investigated separately. Based on the developed methods both mechanisms can be characterized independently of the target type. The presented results show a promising approach to determine the size of the mechanical removal mechanism's impact force. Obviously it depends primarily on the blasting pressure, one of the main influencing process factors. Cleaning applications - substrate and the adherence of the residues - show different resistance against thermal stress as well as against mechanical impact. Because of this, an overall benchmark independently of the application had to be defined in order to compare the blasting efficiency of both blasting technologies and the results.