Mineral Slag Abrasive Survey and Specification

Because of potential silicosis problems, the U.S. shipbuilding industry has largely abandoned the use of open-air sand blasting. The predominant abrasives now being used for open-air blasting are mineral slags having a low free silica content. Concerns about their continued availability as well as batch-to- batch variations in quality prompted the subject program. Avondale Shipyards authorized the Ocean City Research Corporation to 1 catalog sources of mineral slag abrasives for U.S. shipyards and 2 develop a tentative material specification for mineral slag abrasives consistent with the requirements of U.S. shipyards.