Welcome to the Plastic Media Division Microsite

Plastic Blast Medias, from Urea to Acrylics and Melamine granular medias to Polycarbonate and Nylon deflashing medias.

Plastic Media was first introduced in the mid-1980’s by the United States military  to provide an environmentally acceptable alternative to chemical strippers.

 Utilising spent plastic buttons from military uniforms, it was noticed that the media was soft enough to not cause damage on the substrates, but aggressive enough just to remove paint and composites, without peening the surface.

 Unlike chemical strippers, plastic media was found to be biodegradable, non-toxic and non-polluting and the process was accepted as the ideal method of delicate surface preparation for a wide variety of materials and components 

At low pressures it was also observed that you were able to re-use & recycle the plastic between 3 and 12 times, dependant on the hardness of the plastic - PBM, soon acquired a reputation as the ideal abrasive for the environmental conscious blaster. 

Several in-carnations later, plastic media has developed into a World-wide used abrasive, and has many different types, gauged by the hardness of the raw material.  

Raw material remains from a recycled fully cured moulding for all types, although the major medias used are types II (urea), III (melamine) and V (acrylic). 

A member of the Mac’Ants Group, Mac’Ants Avialite Plastic Media was established in 2003, to complement the other abrasives and surface preparation services they have offer since the 1970’s. 

All manufacture is on site in Sheffield to top class industry standards. 

Mac’Ants   employ a high calibre experienced technical and sales team, with their assistance, and by listening to their customers needs have now not only developed a World Class, fast, economic, environmentally acceptable alternative to traditional chemical and hand stripping, but are constantly developing new plastic hybrids for various industries.  

Among the many benefits of the Mac’Ants Avialite range is its low breakdown rate, low dust and accuracy of sieving which ensures exact particle size control and distribution, which can be critical on aerospace or military products, and has resulted in many accolades including the US Military P-85891a standard and the Rolls Royce CSS227 approvals. 

Each type is available in a range of standard sizes with special grades on request.  As from 2004 Mac’Ants are the ONLY EUROPEAN MANUFACTURER to be approved to US Military specification P-85891A and Rolls-Royce CSS227 for both type II - urea and type V – acrylic plastic medias – details of this material available on request.

The only plastic media manufacturer outside the USA and Canada approved to Mil-P-85891A for 2 types of granular plastic media. Type II and Type V, approval letters re issued in October 2008 for another 2 years!