“It’s just like dry blasting.”
Not at all. Adding water cushions the abrasive, giving a smoother, more consistent finish.

“It damages delicate parts.”
The water actually protects surfaces, making it safe for precision components.

“It’s messy and wasteful.”
Quite the opposite - it reduces dust, recycles media, and makes clean-up easier.

“It’s only for heavy industry.”
It’s used everywhere: aerospace, automotive, medical, and even jewellery.

When it comes to sports equipment manufacturing the finishing process is just as critical as the material itself. And wet blasting is fast becoming the preferred finishing method, especially for composite-based gear such as tennis racquets, bicycles, skis, and hockey sticks.

Applications of wet blasting for composites

• Surface preparation: Ensures better adhesion before painting, coating, or bonding.

• Texture control: Creates consistent surface finishes without damaging fibres or resin.

Wet blasting is a proven solution for heat scale removal, advantages include:

• Effective oxide layer removal - Heat scale consists of tenacious chromium and nickel oxides on superalloy surfaces. Wet blasting's controlled impact energy effectively breaks the oxide-to-metal bond while the water flushes away loosened scale particles, preventing re-deposition.

In aerospace Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), every process has to be precise, repeatable, and reliable. That’s where the Sabre comes into its own.

• Unmatched precision: The Sabre delivers micron-level control in surface finishing. It produces consistent, repeatable results, with surfaces optimised for coatings that demand excellent adhesion performance.

In additive manufacturing (AM), achieving the right Ra surface roughness is one of the most important finishing challenges. It's not just a number on a surface measurement chart. Ra directly influences how a part performs, how long it lasts and whether it meets certification standards.

Why Ra surface roughness control matters:

• Mechanical performance: Higher Ra values can act as stress concentrators, reducing fatigue life and increasing the risk of crack initiation. Lower, controlled Ra values improve strength and reliability.

Left behind after machining, these sharp edges can:

• Injure patients or clinicians

• Compromise sterilisation

• Reduce performance and shorten instrument life

Wet blasting is one of the most effective ways to deal with them. The combination of water and fine abrasive removes burrs gently but thoroughly, even in complex geometries, while leaving a smooth, uniform finish. It also flushes away debris and improves corrosion resistance.

The outcome is simple: instruments that are safer, cleaner and more reliable.

In sectors where sterility is absolutely critical, such as medical technology, pharmaceuticals and food processing, the way surfaces are finished has a huge impact on how effectively and efficiently they can be sterilised.

Wet blasting excels at creating surfaces that require sterlisation.

Here’s why it stands out:

• Thorough cleaning: Wet blasting removes grease, oxides, rust, scale and even stubborn biofilms, leaving a surface ready for sterilisation.

Success in the Conform continuous extrusion process - also know as continuous rotary extrusion (CRE) - starts with meticulous preparation. Whether working with wire, rod or strip, feedstock must be clean, oxide-free and consistent to ensure smooth metal flow, reduced die wear and to ensure reliable product quality.

One preparation technique proven to be highly effective is wet blasting, a process that uses fine abrasive in a water slurry to deliver controlled, uniform surfaces.

Why is wet blasting ideal for wire, rod and strip preparation:

When it comes to dental implant components, surface finish is much more than a matter of appearance, it directly impacts performance, biocompatibility, and patient outcomes. Among available finishing techniques, wet blasting is a superior solution that's trusted to deliver the ideal finish.

Compared to dry blasting or machining alone, wet blasting offers distinct advantages:

• Surface quality: The wet blast slurry medium delivers a smoother, more uniform finish, with controlled roughness and no embedded abrasive.

In the manufacture of cemented carbide cutting tool inserts, one of the persistent challenges is cobalt leaching. Since tungsten carbide grains are held together by a cobalt binder, any loss of cobalt during finishing can have significant consequences:

• A weakened binder phase, leaving the edge brittle and prone to micro-chipping

• Surface porosity, reducing mechanical integrity

• Poor adhesion of CVD/PVD coatings, leading to premature delamination

• Greater susceptibility to corrosion and oxidation