Dry ice blaster

Freezing it clean

In production shops, dust and abrasion as well as the residue of raw and auxiliary materials sooner or later form encrusted layers and pockets of dirt which detrimentally affect the quality of the product as well as the function and precision of machines and tools. The necessary cleaning up always involves time and costs. Disassembling and reassembling the machine parts that have to be cleaned interrupts production, the disposal of used cleaning agents costs time and money, while abrasive processes shorten the service lives of moulds and tools.

Cleaning process

Dry ice blasting is a cost-effective process for thoroughly cleaning tools, machines and products, and has a number of advantages over conventional methods. In this process, pellets made of frozen carbon dioxide are accelerated in a stream of compressed air. When they make contact with the surface being cleaned, they cool it down abruptly. Owing to the different, temperature-related rates of contraction of the contaminant and the base, the layer of contaminant goes brittle and cracks open. Pellets penetrate and sublimate immediately – that means they are transformed from the solid to the gaseous state. The carbon dioxide bubble that occurs in this way is 400 times larger than the pellet itself and blasts the dirt particles off the base.

The enormously efficient cleaning action is based on three factors: The kinetic energy of the pellets, the embrittlement and loosening of the contaminant as well as the explosive sublimation of the blasting medium. The softness of the dry ice pellets ensures minimum abrasion, i.e. no harm is done to the surfaces being cleaned.

As with other blasting processes, dry ice blasting is suitable for treating complex surfaces. Unlike sand blasting, water or steam jets, neither water nor abrasive is left on the item that has been cleaned because the blasting medium literally disappears into thin air. It is only necessary to blow away or collect – with a vacuum cleaner, for example – the dirt that has been blasted away. There are no drying times, cleaned equipment is immediately ready for operation. Furthermore, as carbon dioxide – frozen or in gaseous form – is a very poor conductor, dry ice blasting can also be used without any problem for cleaning electrical equipment.

Another advantage: There are no problems with corrosion because the surfaces being cleaned do not come into contact with either water or other foreign matter. The subsequent and often time-consuming cleaning up of abrasive, or the expensive process of disposing of waste water contaminated with cleaning agent and dissolved dirt is unnecessary.