Wet Slurry Blasting 85

The NDCEE has been working with the maintenance department at OO-ALC to identify,

Technologies
demonstrate, and validate environmentally sound, alternative technologies for coatings
removal from aircraft landing gear wheels. As part of this effort, the NDCEE is testing the
slurry blasting process. The installation’s current process employs methylene chloride
chemical stripping, which has been identified as both a carcinogenic material and volatile
organic hazardous air pollutant solvent. After chemical stripping, plastic media blasting
(PMB) is used to clean coating residues and remove thicker coated sections. Eliminating or
reducing the PMB secondary coatings removal processing through a more efficient initial
coatings removal process is also desired because PMB waste is currently disposed of as
hazardous waste due to chromated primer contamination.
Technology Description
Slurry blasting is an old technology that had been used for mining and machining
applications. In simple terms, it can be compared to using pumice hand soap for hand
washing. The pumice will not work as well by itself as it will when mixed with liquid soap.
Wet slurry blasting describes the process in instances when the slurry consists of greater
than 50% water. Because of recent improvements, the slurry blasting technology has been
revived for coatings removal purposes. More specifically, improved media quality and
hardened processing pumps and nozzles, coupled with microprocessor controls, have
allowed more-controlled and better processing with the aluminum oxide media. The wet
slurry technology is an alternative to blasting methods using bicarbonate of soda, fiber,
engineered sponge, waterjet, plastic media, and starch as well as chemical stripping
processes.
Slurry is created by rapidly agitating media in water and then pumping to point of use. The
most-used slurry blasting process involves low-pressure water/aluminum oxide. This
process consists of a water stream of aluminum oxide particles with a hardness of 9.0
based on the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness. The coatings removal is accomplished
by the aggressiveness of the aluminum oxide particles. The water is used as a transport
for the aluminum oxide to the part and to remove the blast media and residue from the ESOH Need
part. The blast pressure and aluminum oxide feed rate can be varied to increase or
decrease the aggressiveness of the blast stream. Cleaning and coatings
removal techniques
The aluminum oxide wet slurry blasting process produces a waste stream that consists of
water, aluminum oxide, and removed coatings. The aluminum oxide and coatings can
be removed from the waste stream, allowing both the water and
the aluminum oxide to be reused. Due to its hardness, the
aluminum oxide can be reused many times. This process does
not require prewashing of the part to remove grease and dirt
before blasting (although excessive quantities of grease and dirt
will result in a higher consumption of the aluminum oxide
media). Mechanical or robotic control of the blast nozzle is not
required for this process. Preliminary demonstrations with this
equipment have shown that this is an aggressive coatings
removal process.
Technology Benefits and Advantages
• Can remove most organic and inorganic coatings
• Achieves a coatings removal rate that is faster than
bicarbonate of soda, fiber, engineered sponge, or starch Aluminum oxide wet slurry blasting using 3/0
blasting methods quartz

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 86 • Achieves a coatings removal rate that is equivalent to the waterjet and PMB
removal process with multiple nozzles used in concert
• Has lower material and operating costs than chemical stripping operations and
Technologies

some of the other blasting methods

• Has low material costs due to its ability to reuse the media combined with the
media’s inexpensive procurement cost (approximately $0.10 per pound)
• Has the capability to quickly separate slurry into abrasive media and water
components, thereby allowing water to be utilized as a rinse agent after blasting
• Enables spent media to be extracted from process by filtration without shutting-
down the process
• Controls blasting dust generation, limiting ventilation system costs and containment
• Uses minimal tank volume for processing and hazardous waste disposal as
compared to dry media blasting techniques (i.e., produces 1/100 of the waste
media volume)
Technology Limitations
• Is abrasive and can damage substrate material under uncontrolled process
conditions
• Does not perform well on removal of underlying aluminum anodize film
NDCEE FY04 Accomplishments
The NDCEE demonstrated the process using two types of abrasive media (aluminum oxide
and quartz) in a 20% concentration by volume in water. Initially, aluminum oxide was
chosen for trial due to its application use history and removal rate. All demonstrations
succeeded in removing high-performance 4–6 mil thick polyurethane coatings and primers
from aluminum substrate at a rate of 50 in.2/min. per 0.375 in. diameter nozzle. Several
nozzles could be combined in practice to meet production rate requirements of 200 in.2/min.
Trials indicated that while the process removed that coating successfully, it damaged the
anodized pretreatment on the aluminum substrate. Quartz is another slurry material, softer
than aluminum oxide, which was trialed to reduce abrasion to the substrate. Again, this
process was found to be too abrasive for aircraft wheels as it also removed the anodized
pretreatment.
Economic Analysis
The cost of slurry media is very low. Aluminum oxide media is in the range of $0.12–0.14
per pound and quartz media is approximately $4.00 per 40-pound bag or $0.10 per pound.
This price compares favorably with the current plastic media of $1.20 per pound.
Engineered media, such as sponge or foam, typically range from $3–4 per pound.
Equipment costs for the slurry blasting system range from $100,000–$200,000 depending on
production rates and part size. Operationally, the slurry blasting process does not use a
significant amount of compressed air or electricity and is equal to waterjet and plastic
media blasting in labor allocation. Because of cheaper material costs and less energy
demands, wet slurry blasting is less expensive to operate than waterjet, chemical strippers,
or PMB in most instances.
Suggested Implementation Applications
Wet slurry blasting using aluminum oxide may be used on soft, nondelicate composites and
thin aluminum surfaces. Applicable weapons system components include a variety of
vehicle and aerospace components. Parts, such as vehicle wheels, fenders, doors, engine
components, mounts, and racks, can be removed and transported into a stripping booth.

NDCEE www.denix.osd.mil
This technology can eliminate the use of surface profiling (roughening) pretreatment. 87

Points of Contact

Technologies
• Richard (Guy) Whalen, OO-ALC, (801) 775-6866, richard.whalen@hill.af.mil
• Doug Atterbury, NDCEE/CTC, (814) 269-2849, atterbud@ctc.com
Applicable NDCEE Task
Automated Plastic Media Blast for Depainting Landing Gear Wheels for Commodities
Directorate Ogden Air Logistic Center (Task N.258)

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