Media plays an essential role within a mass finishing process. Whether ceramic, plastic, or polishing and drying, optimal media mix and conditions must be maintained to produce precise finishing results.

“Glazing” occurs when the surface of the media becomes contaminated with metal fines and other debris from the work pieces. As a result, the media becomes very shiny and frequently looks like a piece of aluminum, brass, steel, zinc, etc.

Because glazed media completely loses its original surface properties, it no longer has any grinding effect. Instead, glazed media creates a sort of uncontrolled burnishing. It also retains dirt and other particles which are then deposited on the work pieces.

The image above depicts (from left) media states include clean, heavily glazed, partially cleaned, and fully cleaned.

Rosler has more than 60 years of media production experience. In that time we’ve seen—and corrected—countless examples of ineffective surface finishing as a result of media glazing.

Continue reading Avoid Media Glazing to Prevent Process Inefficiencies, Breakdown →