Glass bead blasting media

Identity and product forms

Guyson lists soda-lime Honite 10 at 180–300 µm and Honite 13 at 106–212 µm. Their nominal ranges overlap and the sheet supplies no numerical sphere percentage. Guyson’s Glassgrit shares Honite chemistry but is ground to an angular shape. Glassgrit sheet Honite is described as smooth and spherical for wet or dry compressed-air blasting. Honite, January 2024

Similar names do not establish interchangeable products:

Synthesis: cullet describes broken glass feedstock or fragments, not a finished spherical-bead acceptance grade. Peening-qualified media additionally have a defined acceptance specification; commercial cleaning beads do not establish that qualification. A bead name alone establishes neither a coating nor its absence. The inspected Honite and Syntech data do not specify a surface-treatment chemistry, coating loading, or recycled-content percentage. These unknowns cannot be resolved from glass type or transparent appearance.

Related references cover ceramic blasting beads and Finishing process references.

Glass chemistry and phase evidence

These are supplier statements for the named products, not one universal glass recipe.

Synthesis: oxide analysis describes chemical composition. It does not measure crystalline phase content. The Honite SDS's explicit amorphous description is separate phase-related evidence. Neither its table nor the SRL analysis provides a crystalline-silica test method, detection limit, or current lot result. An SDS disclosure threshold would not establish analytical absence.

The Honite sheet claims no free silica and describes the product as iron-free, while its numerical free-iron maximum is nonzero. Neither wording establishes zero total iron. SRL's Fe₂O₃ entry measures a different reported chemical quantity from free iron. Honite, SRL These distinctions do not prove a contamination-free workpiece or absence of embedded fragments.

Grade names, sieve ranges, and shape percentages

Selected rows illustrate actual supplier designations. A micrometre, µm, is 0.001 mm.

Sources: complete Honite size table and complete Syntech commercial-grade table. The Syntech page labels its shape column "% Speres" but does not identify count versus mass basis, minimum versus typical acceptance, sampling method, or geometric criterion. Its asterisk denotes grades typically not stocked and available ex-manufacturer, not a shape tolerance. INDA has no sphere percentage. The AH row prints U.S. sieve "17–325" alongside 90–44 µm. That unresolved entry is not silently corrected here. Syntech

Synthesis: a supplier grade name, sieve opening interval, percentage passing, mean diameter, and percentile distribution are separate quantities. The inspected blast-bead tables do not publish complete oversize and undersize allowances or D10/D50/D90 distributions. A nominal range alone does not guarantee every bead lies within both endpoints. A sphere percentage without its denominator is not a measured sphericity value for each bead.

The SRL July 2023 sheet has an internal size conflict. Its title says 50–70 µ, while its property table gives nominal grain size 40–70 µm. Both are visible in the same document. Neither establishes which lower endpoint controls an actual supplied lot. SRL, title and physical properties

For comparison, Potters' Spheriglass 2429 flooring sheet lists mean 85 µm and 10%, 50%, and 90% finer-than values of 72, 83, and 99 µm. Its footnotes identify volume distributions and typical values unsuitable as specifications. Those statistics describe the named filler, not a blast-bead grade or sieve-retention guarantee. Spheriglass, 22 March 2022

Density and hardness bases

Sources: Honite, Honite SDS, SRL, and Guyson USA sheet. The Honite hardness entries conflict. The documents do not explain whether revision, measurement method, or another factor accounts for the difference. The USA sheet has no visible revision date; its URL contains 4-30-15. Its apparent-density entry is retained under its own label. Its nominal overall range of 45–600 µm also does not explain how the listed 20/30 mesh grade fits that range. USA table

Synthesis: specific gravity is a relative density, ordinarily dimensionless; some sheets instead attach density units to that label. Bulk density includes interparticle voids. None of these bulk or apparent-density entries specifies poured versus tapped preparation, moisture content, or packing procedure. Thus the values do not establish one common test basis. One g/cm³ equals one kg/L.

Using SRL's published densities as an illustrative basis, 25 kg occupies approximately 15.6 L at 1.6 kg/L bulk density, versus approximately 9.62 L at 2.60 kg/L material density. This arithmetic compares container-volume and particle-material-volume bases. It does not predict bag dimensions, a lot's packing fraction, or usable hopper capacity. Density inputs

Mohs scratch hardness and Vickers indentation hardness measure different responses. The Guyson USA HV range has no stated test force, dwell time, or specimen preparation. Its accompanying Mohs range is not evidence of an exact conversion. Syntech's hardness entry is "550 VH", without a load or method explanation. Neither entry establishes bead fracture resistance or reuse life. Guyson USA, Syntech

Surface results, fracture, and controlled peening

Guyson USA describes a satin, lightly dimpled finish and lists cleaning and light deburring applications. The sheet does not provide a quantified roughness result, substrate-removal measurement, or matched embedment test. Its no-contamination and no-dimensional-change language therefore remains a supplier claim rather than a universal outcome. Guyson USA sheet

Honite's SDS explicitly states that abrasive cleaning can fracture the product and generate dust. It describes mechanical irritation and makes spent-abrasive disposal dependent on the substances removed. These statements concern handling and process-generated material, not a numerical finish or reuse guarantee. SDS, sections 4, 7, 8, and 13

Synthesis: initial bead shape does not establish the shape of recirculated media after fracture. A reuse count needs a defined rejection criterion and operating conditions. The inspected sources establish no common cycle count, universal residue-free result, or compatibility with every substrate and subsequent coating. "Satin" supplies no Ra or Rz value by itself.

Peening intensity and coverage are distinct process quantities. SAE J443_202512, revised December 2025, addresses deriving and verifying peening intensity. SAE J2277_202301, revised January 2023, addresses determining coverage and relating coverage to media-stream exposure. Only their public scopes are used here. J443, J2277

Synthesis: a rounded cleaning bead, decorative finish, or supplier peening application does not establish qualified intensity, coverage, residual stress, or fatigue improvement. Standards availability is also distinct from supplied-lot and process compliance. This reference supplies no universal pressure, angle, stand-off distance, traverse speed, or approved production recipe.

Source versions and coverage limits

Reviewed 29 October 2026 PDT. The reference uses full publicly accessible supplier sheets and product tables, including the Honite SDS's image-based composition table. The SDS is issue 20, April 2023; the Honite product sheet prints Jan 2024i. SRL prints 07-23_en. The USA sheet is undated internally. These are reference documents rather than lot certificates.

The sources do not establish current lot size tolerances, quantitative sphericity methods, coatings, recycled-content provenance, phase detection limits, or matched finish and reuse trials. Safety-sheet classifications are source- and revision-specific; they do not determine current workplace compliance or the composition of dust and waste from a particular job. The documents do not establish a customer's equipment capability or process acceptance.