Dozens of large and renowned foundries trust Hybrid steel shot for their sand removal process. Among them, Daimler Chrysler AG®, a world leader in its market, was one of the pioneers since 2013. More recently, Lodge® Cast Iron, the oldest cast iron manufacturer in the USA and World leader in high-quality cast iron cookware, has been carrying out comparative tests for 2 years and has so far obtained a productivity improvement of over 18%!
So why do they trust this Hybrid shot and what is its secret?
First of all, this product was developed at our technical center in Le Cheylas, France and introduced for the first time at Daimler AG® in Mannheim, Germany. The aim was to achieve the required cleaning qualities of the cylinder heads of the engines while reducing the consumption of shot and the reduction of machine maintenance.
According to dozens of customer tests since its introduction, the average costs of using the Hybrid shot are about 9% lower than the typical round shot (high or low carbon).
There are many reasons, including:
- Lower shot consumption;
- Improved cleaning and desanding efficiency;
- Lower labor cost due to greater efficiency;
- Reduction of re-cleaning;
- Less energy consumed;
- Reduction of waste due to lower consumption.
So, what is the secret of Hybrid shot?
This unique product has been specially developed to address the growing demand for increased efficiency but also consumption of abrasives.
Hybrid products are therefore a mixture of cast steel media, made of round cast steel shots and angular shots (Soft grit) in order to offer the best of both worlds: increased efficiency and reduced consumption of abrasives.
Here are some of its properties:
- Soft Angular Shots having received a specific heat treatment in order to increase its durability;
- Longer life and reduced consumption of the mixture due to the unique manufacturing process of the grit;
- Specific hardness of the grit reducing the wear of the machines but increasing the cleaning efficiency;
- Specific hardness of the shot to increase rebound properties to better clean openings and crevices;
- Higher energy transfer than the competitive cast steel shots (either high or low carbon);
- Chisel cleaning effect to better dislodge encrusted sand.
According to dozens of internal tests and a complete study carried out by the CNRS (The French National Centre for Scientific Research), the rebound coefficient of the High Carbon WA shot is 0.6 versus 0.4 and less for Low Carbon steel shot. Thus, after only 2 rebounds, W Abrasives media will have more than double the energy for cleaning than low carbon, thus giving parts cleaner, quicker!
In the specific case of Chrysler®, following the change from a Low Carbon shot to W Abrasives' Hybrid shot, they were able to reduce cycle times by up to 15% and also reduce Wheelabrator’s blade wear by 40%! Let’s also thanks the support of our technical W Care team and our well-trained sales representatives in this process improvement.
Regarding Lodge®, the change to the W Abrasives’ Hybrid product on one of their 2 production line allowed them to significantly increase their productivity. After exhaustive comparative tests on production line 1, between a renowned American high-carbon manufacturer and W Abrasives’ Hybrid, they increased the production rate from 42Hz to 52Hz. This gives an 19% improvement in productivity, with comparable or superior cleaning quality! The tests are now transferred to line # 2 to confirm the results obtained so far.
In other examples, a manufacturer of fire protection valves and municipal parts was able to reduce the blast cleaning cycle time from 15 to 9 minutes following the change of Low Carbon S330 shot to our Hybrid HY080 product! This product change allowed them to reduce their cleaning cost per piece from $1.53 down to $1.22, a reduction of 19.8%!
In summary, the Hybrid Shot product has the durability benefits sought after of low carbon abrasives used in foundries but adding the performance and efficiency qualities of high carbon abrasives.
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About the Author
Iann Bouchard, Eng. is the Director of Marketing and Business Development for Winoa USA. Among his roles with Winoa in the past 6 years, he acquired his expertise as a technical representative and as the product manager. He also has direct experience with shot blasting equipment as he previously worked for Wheelabrator.
