Shaping the automotive industry

By OEM Update Editorial July 17, 2017 12:15 pm IST

Featuring some of the advanced shot blasting and peening solutions for an automotive industry.

Shot blasting and peening solutions plays a crucial part for an automotive industry. Apart from this, they also cover other key segment areas like – aerospace, steel, foundry, forgings, ship building, construction industry, medical, military, railways etc. Here’s a look at what the experts have to say on this:

Custom specific solutions
Commenting on how shot blasting and peening solutions are shaping the automotive industry, Jagadish Kulkarni, Vice President – W&A OE Sales, PM & Services, Disa India Ltd, says, “In India, DISA together with Wheelabrator, the world renowned manufactures of both, the wheel and air shot blasting solutions have custom specific solutions for both surface preparation and the shot peening needs.”

He adds, “The product program covers almost all key segments like – automotive, aerospace, steel, foundry, forgings, ship building, construction industry, medical, military, railways etc. The solutions address the demands based on the surface quality, consistent performance of jobs – especially in the peened parts, adequate dust extraction system and safety norms to meet the environment and health needs.”
Following are some of the product range used:-
Auto & General Segment – for castings (de-sanding), forging, die cast parts.
• Hanger type machine – Model HB-I 10/12, HB-I 12/16, VH range.
• Spinner hanger type machine – Shell concept SPH 2 5.5/12.
• Tubmlast machine – Metallic belt m/c MB-I 500, Rubber belt machine BB 170.
• Continuous /Batch type on line machines – DT, DS & DTC machines.
• Shot peening machine – DRT Range.
• Customised solutions – to meet the specific needs of the Industry.

Steel segment – Descalling/Surface preparation.
• FL Machine – Wire and Bar De-scaling applications.
• Roller Conveyor – RB Range – for descalling of steel plates, sections, profiles, Fabricated parts, slabs, etc.,
• Pass thru solutions – customized – Ex Fabricated parts used for construction industry.
• Blast rooms – Bigger size parts.
• HB – Strip descaling (stainless steel) – supplied from European operation.

Shot blasting: An integral part of steel and metal building
In general, Nilesh Vaja, Manager Sales, Patel Furnace & Forging Pvt Ltd shared his viewpoint that, “Shot Blasting is a method used to clean, to induce strengthen (shot peening) or polish metal surface. Shot blasting is used in almost every industry that uses metal, including aerospace, automotive, construction, foundry, shipbuilding, rail, and many others.”

He further adds, “Shot blasting process has become an integral part of steel structure and metal building industry. Shot Blasting provides 2 vital benefits, for steel protection. Firstly it removes all rust, mill scale and corrosion, thus eliminating moisture which is almost always entrapped beneath these corrosion products. Second it provides ideal surface finish (SSPC – 10 | SA 2.5) for securing a continuous and effective bond between the steel surface and coat.”

Advantage of Shot Blasting:
Removing Corrosion:
Shot blasting can remove all forms of rust and corrosive materials from the metal surface, while leaving the base of the product unaffected. Typical corrosive builds include as mention below.

Surface Preparation:
Shot blasting is the most efficient and the most effective process to prepare a metal surface prior to painting or coating.
• High blast pattern accuracy.
• Much better bond between blasted surface & the protective coating.
• Aids in revealing any surface defects/errors.
• Increases the lifespan and the endurance of future coatings.

The Environment:
Shot blasting is one of only a few environmentally friendly options for corrosion removal and surface preparation.
• The process only uses abrasion to clean the metal surface
• No chemicals used at all
• No acids
• Only cleanup is physical pellets
• Blasted steel and dust are swept away by powerful vacuum and dust collection system
• The process inherently recycles materials

Most widely used application of steel shots
According to Jolly Lonappan, Managing Director, Jolly Metal Abrasives Pvt Ltd, Steel shots in automobile industry can be used for main two purposes:
• Shot blasting for cleaning
• Shot blasting for peening or destressing.

Lonappan opines, “Shot blasting for cleaning is the most widely used application of steel shots. Our steel shots, (Jolly Metal Abrasives) is used by many leading automobile parts supplier like Hinduja, Sakthi auto components etc. Our shots have higher density of 7.6 gm/cm3 and more uniformity which helps in reducing the consumption rate and giving better performance in terms of cleaning. By using jolly metal abrasive steel shot one can witness the better surface finish with their naked eye after blasting. Our products are also under trial in other leading automobile plants for their in house use. The better surface finish or the aesthetic appearance achieved using our shots gets immediate attention in automobile industry.”

It is believed that shot peening is a very important and useful process of steel shots by which one can induce compressive stress into the automobile parts which is an otherwise high tensile stress part. He further states, “Induction of compressive stress will help to reduce the fatigue failure. Compressive stress is induced by the plastic deformity caused by the denting on the surface when high velocity shots hits the part. There can be spot peening and uniform peening according to the requirement.”

Lonappan concludes by stating, “One have to calculate the saturation time for their penning operation using a particular shot size, as per many industrial studies peening more than saturation time will not produce any advantages.”