Published in Corrosion Protection no. 16 (October 2026): MontiPower Group CEO Frits Doddema traces mechanical surface preparation from the hand wire brush to bristle blasting, cordless tools and robotics, and asks when these methods are a better fit than open abrasive blasting.
The ipcm® magazine Corrosion Protection has published a feature article by Frits Doddema in the "The Breakdown" section of issue no. 16. Read it in the original magazine layout as a PDF, or online on the publisher's website.
Read the full article as published in Corrosion Protection no. 16, pages 34-43.
→ Download the PDF → Read it on ipcm.itWhat the article covers
- Why alternatives to blasting matter. Open abrasive blasting is not always practical, affordable or allowed. Manual and mechanical methods need far less supporting equipment and leave no spent abrasive to clean up.
- Surface prep and coating, together. The method should match the coating system, the exposure and the service life required, not just a visual cleanliness grade.
- Hand and power tools. What wire brushes, scrapers, abrasive pads, rotary brushes, grinders and needle scalers can and cannot achieve, including why rotary brushing tends to burnish the surface and how hand-arm vibration affects operators.
- Bristle blasting. How the Bristle Blaster® removes corrosion and creates an anchor profile in one step, and the configurations available today, from electric and pneumatic to cordless, Axial and Subsea.
- The next generation. Automated pipeline field-joint preparation with PREPPER®, the AeroBlaster developed with Voliro, ground-based and magnetic robotics, and battery systems such as the Cordless Alliance System (CAS).
Related reading
- The Complete Guide to Blasting Alternatives for Steel
- Bristle Blaster vs conventional power tools
- Voliro and MontiPower: robotic surface treatment at height
Source: JF. Doddema, “From hand tools to robotics: the evolution of mechanical surface preparation”, in Corrosion Protection magazine no. 16 (October 2026), pages 34-43. Article reproduced with permission in the original layout of Corrosion Protection, published by ipcm® International Paint&Coating Magazine. Online version: ipcm.it.
