Dry ice blasting technology extends the life of composite molds and tools by reducing or eliminating the need for chemical solvents, wire brushes, and abrasive pads.
This article will focus on the application of dry ice blasting, an environmentally friendly cleaning and surface treatment process, in the composite mold industry. Dry ice blasting uses carbon dioxide in the form of solid dry ice pellets, which are accelerated by compressed air through a high-speed nozzle to the surface to be cleaned. Through a combination of kinetic, thermal, and expansion effects, the bond between the contaminant and the surface is broken, thereby cleaning the substrate. The dry ice pellets sublimate (return to the gaseous state) upon contact with the substrate surface; no secondary waste is left. Dry ice cleaning extends the life of molds and tools and eliminates or reduces the need for chemical solvents and abrasives such as wire brushes, abrasive pads, and blades.
The dry ice blasting process is a non-destructive cleaning process that protects the surfaces of molds and tools. Equipment used for compression molding sheet molding compound (SMC), resin transfer molding, extrusion, pultrusion, injection molding bulk molding compound (BMC), prepreg, and wet layup are all special applications for dry ice blasting. It also removes a variety of contaminants from tooling such as release agents, epoxies, Teflon® tapes, tacky tapes, polymers, phenolics, carbon, graphite, Kevlar® and silicone.