Usually water is used to clean things, but not every object is allowed to get wet, and water is not abundant everywhere. So it is well known that in the desert sand instead of water used for cleaning. Similarly, especially in construction, the technique of sandblasting is used to clean or decorate surfaces. In Germany, however, this is prohibited. That is why in this country usually the gentler Dry Ice Blasting is used. But what does Dry Ice Blasting actually mean and what are its benefits?
The term Dry Ice Blasting
Dry Ice Blasting is once again one of those annoying English technical terms. Dry means dry. As already mentioned above, Dry Ice Blasting does not use water, but does not use any other liquid. Ice is called ice cream and yes, we are talking about dry ice or, more precisely, dry ice in German, which is used instead of the sand when sandblasting. Blasting is the act of blasting where something, in our case the dry ice, is blown at high pressure on a target, like the surface to be cleaned. Dry Ice Blasting can be translated as dry ice blasting and that is actually the correct German term for it.
But what is dry ice? Usually, when we hear the word ice, we think of frozen water. The water ice represents the solid form of the water and is therefore as dry as water can be. However, as soon as the ambient temperature reaches and exceeds 0 ° C, the water begins to liquefy and becomes wet. The so-called dry ice is also a solid form, namely the carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide does not have the habit of melting like water, but of sublimating. This means that it goes directly from the solid to the gaseous state without becoming liquid in between. So it always stays dry. However, the aggregate state transition already occurs at -78.48 ° C, a temperature that we do not experience on Earth under natural circumstances.
The benefits of Dry Ice Blasting
So why use surface treatment as much as dry ice when it comes to sand? In fact, other substances than sand and dry ice are used for blasting. However, sandblasting was the first beam technique invented and sand is relatively easy to obtain and operate. However, fine fumed silica is blown into the air which, if it is inhaled too often, can lead to silicosis, the so-called pneumoconiosis. Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, is a natural component of the air and the metabolic product of our breathing. With sufficient presence of oxygen, it is safe. In addition, the Dry Ice Blasting dry ice pellets are softer and thus gentler for the irradiated material.