Recycled bottle glass is chemically known as Amorphous Silica, which means it contains less than 1% free-silica. Free-silica is commonly found in traditional blasting sand and other hard abrasive sandblasting medias. Silica-sand dust in its natural state has an “open”crystalline structure that has the capability of sticking to lung tissues. When this happens, the likelihood of developing a serious respiratory disease called Silicosis increases. Because our recycled glass blast media is amorphous, its crystalline structure is “closed”, which makes it impossible to physically stick to human lung tissue. When a person is exposed to amorphous glass fines or dust, the body will expel the dust as it would any other type of natural dirt.
Posted in: Hard Abrasive FAQs