What is Steel shot and Steel grit?

What is steel shot?

Steel shot refers to a type of ballistic material that is used as a projectile for abrasive blast cleaning and shot peening. It occurs in the form of a metallic pellet that is a bluish-gray alloy of iron with carbon. They are processed in a variety of finishes, allowing for a wide range of corrosion resistance levels.

Steel shot is generally available in the form of highly polished, perfect spheres that are softened via annealing.

The following classifications are used for steel shot:

• Steel shot is generally finished in one of two ways: polishing the original pellet or plated with zinc. Zinc-plated shot eliminates the occurrence of rust and corrosion.
• Different steel shot are able to withstand a variety of load forces.
• A variety of ballistic industry classifications are used to group steel shot. These are based on rates of softness, shape consistency and overall quality.

What is steel grit?

Steel grit is an abrasive material that is used to abrade surfaces in a process known as abrasive blasting. Steel grit is jagged in shape, which allows it to abrade materials extremely well. Steel grit comes in many different chemical forms and sizes and is made by crushing steel shots.

Steel grit is most frequently used in a process called abrasive blasting, in which a substance is projected at high velocities towards a base material in order to remove material from the base material or to prepare the surface for further work. This is often done to remove any unwanted contaminants or oxide layers prior to coating a base material to improve the coating’s adhesion.

Steel grit belongs to a family known as steel abrasives, which consists of steel grit and steel shot. Steel shots are round balls of steel; however some applications require sharper edges so steel grit is used for these applications.

Because steel grit is used as an abrasive, the steel grit should be harder than the material it is abrading. Therefore, high carbon and high alloy steels are typically chosen to make steel grit. Steel grit is frequently made out of stainless steel so that no rust appears on the finished product, which could occur if plain carbon steel was used.