An effective method of stripping all metal types, Plastic Media Blasting removes all or a portion of a cured powder coating from the surface of a part without causing damage. This article compares Plastic Media Blasting with several other stripping methods for powder coating, environmental considerations, as well as blasting equipment and costs.
Powder coatings produce highly durable finishes, but can be difficult to remove when parts need to be recoated. Several stripping methods include molten salt, burn-off oven or glass bead blasting. With these methods, many substrates are unable to survive the coatings removal process without damage. The alternative is Plastic Media Blasting which uses recyclable thermoset plastics to remove powder coatings while generating only a small amount of dry residue. Plasti-Grit plastic media is non-hazardous and if the powder itself does not pose an environmental problem, hazardous waste is non-existent.
Plastic Media Blasting has been used extensively by the US Department of Defense for stripping aircraft and aerospace components to replace toxic chemical strippers.