The grit is returned to the blasting pot for reuse, while the chips flow into sealed drums for disposal. The grit may be recycled up to 100 or 150 times. So we began to buy manufactured steel abrasive that is tempered. That makes it harder and sharper. One advantage steel grit enjoys over sand is that it offers greater control of particle size in the blasting mix.
Screens insure consistent particle size.
According to Bob Herold of The Gateway Co. in St. Louis, correct setting of the reclaim separator and properly sized abrasive can tailor your working mix to achieve the profile depths and cleaning rate you want. Steel grit should also provide for quicker blasting under most circumstances, although there are probably too many variables for blanket statements. The density of steel is three times that of non-metallics or slag, so the tripled mass should allow it to do three times the work. However, things may not always work that way in the field. The sandblasters thought they were getting more done, but it was too close to call.