All metals suffer from corrosion in a humid environment, which can manifest itself in the form of rusting. Rusting of metal equipment or metal parts can reduce their own safety and effectiveness, or even lead to unusable. When faced with this situation, you look for ways to remove the rust, and there are many options to choose from. But which option is right for your product? Which cleaning technique is more effective? There are many factors you need to consider when choosing a rust removal method.
Here we show you the traditional rust removal methods and the new laser rust removal technology, so you can learn about their features and then choose the right rust removal tool for you.
Media Blasting
Sandblasting and dry ice blasting have long been used to remove rust from products as traditional methods of rust removal. The media blasting method of rust removal is a very fast cleaning solution for large surfaces affected by rust. But it also has obvious disadvantages.
Both sandblasting and dry ice blasting are expensive to operate due to their high media consumption. And dry ice is expensive and costly to transport and store, which means you can quickly run out of your cleaning budget.
In addition to the high cost of cleaning, both sandblasting and dry ice blasting require operators to wear full safety suits to prevent injury from debris during the rust removal process. When using dry ice blasting for rust removal, you also need to be in a well-ventilated space to avoid a buildup of CO2 that could endanger the operator's life.
Laser Cleaning for Rust Removal
While sandblasting and dry ice blasting both use media to remove rust, laser cleaning uses a laser beam to absorb and remove rust. The laser beam is ready to use after power is applied, with no other consumables, low operating costs and easier operation.
Removing rust with a laser is a much safer way to clean. There is no flying debris, the operator only needs to wear laser protection glasses to start removing rust, and there is little risk of injury throughout the entire process. Moreover, laser rust removal has no environmental requirements and the cleaning work can be performed in any environment.
The non-contact laser descaling method will not cause damage to your metal products and will maintain a rust-free workpiece for you to extend its life.
Despite the many advantages of laser rust removal, it should be noted that there are limitations when removing rust from large areas with a laser. Because laser cleaning can only remove rust in the area that the laser beam hits, you will need to constantly move the laser cleaning gun to complete large areas, which can be tiring. In contrast, media blasting is much faster when working on large areas.
