Surface Cleaning Standards

There are four main standards of blast cleaning steel surfaces which include, Brush Off, Commercial, Near white metal, & White metal, with each reaching a different level of surface cleaning, & all standards commanding a different price.

Brush Off – S.A.1 (Swedish standards)

Brush Off blast cleaning is a standard of surface preparation, which when viewed without magnification is free of all visible oil, grease, dirt, dust, loose mill scale, loose rust, & old paint/coatings.

Tightly adherent mill scale, rust & old paint/coatings may remain on the surface. Mill scale, rust & paint/coatings are considered adherent if they cannot be removed by lifting with a dull putty knife.

Other recognised Brush Off standards include:

SSPC-SP7 – (SSPC The society for protective coatings USA).

NACE No.4 – (National association of corrosion engineers USA)

Commercial – S.A. 2 (Swedish standards)

Commercial blast cleaning is a method of preparing steel surfaces which, when viewed without magnification, shall be free of all visible oil, grease, dirt, dust, mill scale, rust & paint/coatings. Generally evenly dispersed very light shadows, streaks & discolorations caused by stains of rust, mill scale or previously applied paint/coatings may remain on more than 33% of the surface.

Other recognised commercial standards include:

SSPC-SP6 – (SSPC The society for protective coatings USA).

NACE No.3 – (National association of corrosion engineers USA)

3RD QUALITY – (United Kingdom standards BS 4232)

Near White Metal – S.A. 2.5 (Swedish standards)

Near white metal blast cleaning is a method of preparing steel surfaces which, when viewed without magnification, shall be free of all visible oil, grease, dirt, dust, mill scale & paint/coatings. Generally evenly dispersed very light shadows, streaks & discolorations caused by stains of rust, mill scale or previously applied paint/coatings may remain on no more than 5% of the surface.

 

Other recognised near white metal standards include:

SSPC-SP10 – (SSPC The society for protective coatings USA).

NACE No.2 – (National association of corrosion engineers USA)

2ND QUALITY – (United Kingdom standards BS 4232)

White Metal – S.A. 3 (Swedish standards)

White metal blast cleaning is a method of preparing steel surfaces which, when viewed without magnification, shall be free of all visible oil, grease, dirt, dust, mill scale, rust & paint/coatings.

 

Other recognised white metal standards include:

SSPC-SP5 – (SSPC The society for protective coatings USA).

NACE No.1 – (National association of corrosion engineers USA)

1ST QUALITY – (United Kingdom standards BS 4232)