October 2010 Vol. 237 No. 10

TechNotes

Attention To Surface Preparation Yields Big Value Additions

Shot and grit-blasting have traditionally been underestimated as to their importance by those who learn by trial and error. The lesson, in those situations, is learned belatedly when the task rises up and bites the unaware. That’s because, when it is not done properly, shot and grit-blasting can immediately turn what should have been something crisply and efficiently executed into a costly, professionally embarrassing procedure.

Done wrong, poor surface treatment shortens the life-span of coating, wastes good quality abrasives and – moreover – the blasted profile may not pass the quality control tests. All this is why Wheelabrator Allevard works hand-in-hand with customers to show them that shot and grit-blasting, done right, can be turned into a real value creation step for surface performance enhancement.

Premium Steel Abrasives

The chain of value proposition starts with the high-quality abrasives developed to the specific needs of the customer. Wheelabrator Allevard believes that every customer is unique and each customer’s applications require much more than a standard product offer which cannot answer the challenges of different industries such as pipeline construction.

The company’s Premium Steel Abrasive range is the outcome of its expertise and continuous innovation on behalf of the pipe construction challenge. The Premium Steel Abrasive range includes: 1) Profilium, 2) ProWheelium, 3) HPG (High Performance Grit), 4) Stainium, and 5) Stelux.

Profilium: Specifically designed for air blasting surface preparation, Profilium provides improved and accelerated surface cleanliness while ensuring improved coating adhesion and optimum paint consumption through better surface profile quality. Through its higher productivity, Profilium enables a significant reduction in the overall blasting process costs.

ProWheelium: A premium product for wheel blasting, ProWheelium is specially developed for surface preparation before coating, painting, enameling and metalizing where sharp surface profiles are required. It is a high performance alternative to hard steel grit used in wheel blasting operation. Customers who have chosen ProWheelium record 30% less abrasive consumption and 20% less blasting machine wear.

HPG: High Performance Grit is specially designed to improve shot-blasting performance in foundry applications. It works faster and longer with an unrivaled capacity for removing contaminants achieving brighter aspects. Compared to High Carbon Steel, HPG enables 10-20% increase in desanding efficiency.

Stainium: This is developed for providing optimum performance in descaling stainless steel sheets prior to acid pickling replacing efficiently S110 or S170 fine shot commonly used in such applications. Today major stainless steel producers prefer Stainium since it improves both the quality of blasted surface and the efficiency of mechanical descaling process.

Stelux: The newest member of the Premium family, Stelux is developed for the surface cleaning, preparation and finishing of non-ferrous metals, stainless steel castings and forgings as well as granite and marble. Stelux offers an ecologically beneficent alternative to other surface treatment solutions since it is fully recyclable and respects the most stringent health and safety regulations.

Technical Service

Technical service is the indispensable component of the company’s value proposition to our customers. The company’s cutting-edge technical assistance, developed and improved every day by its Wheelabrator Allevard Leading Unit for Expertise team (WALUE team for short) through continuous innovations is available worldwide with constant quality.

The WALUE team is made up of 23 technicians based on all the continents. What is their mission? Provide the services that have been distinguishing the company by their strengths and specificities since day one: 1) improve productivity, 2) reduce blasting process costs, 3) share knowledge and expertise and 4) innovate to progress.

The WALUE service offer is built on seven steps intended to achieve the utmost success in the blasting process for the customer: 1) on-site technical expertise, 2) trial at the test center, 3) cost reduction offer, 4) trial launch, 5) training operators, 6) monthly check-up and follow-up, and 7) balance sheet of the trial.

With a dedication to customer value creation, the company takes a step forward from the traditional abrasive manufacturing and offers customer exclusive products, services, tools and training specially designed to the needs of each customer from numerous industries. By developing new solutions to higher productivity and peak efficiency, Wheelabrator Allevard not only contributes to the overall improvement of blasting process by adding extra value but achieves complete customer satisfaction through the constant presence of technical assistance.