Buying guide
7 min read
Selecting a vacuum for aerospace manufacturing
Aerospace manufacturing puts two awkward materials in the same facility. Machining titanium and aluminium produces reactive metal fines that sit in the conductive dust group; trimming and sanding carbon-fibre composite produces a dust that is also conductive and abrasive. Both matter for the specification, and foreign object debris control runs underneath all of it.
- Titanium and aluminium fines are Group E — narrowing the eligible line
- Carbon-fibre dust is conductive and abrasive
- FOD control makes recovery a quality requirement as well as a safety one
- Different materials generally need dedicated recovery
Metal fines set the certification requirement
Titanium and aluminium machining produce fine, freshly exposed, chemically active particles. They are conductive, which places them in Class II Group E, and some are pyrophoric when freshly generated.
Group E is the deciding factor for equipment. It is inside the EX1 HEPA scope on our CSA listing and is not inside the EV EX HEPA scope, which covers Groups F and G. Two units in the same catalogue are therefore not interchangeable for a titanium cell, and the model page for each states its own scope.
Composite dust is its own problem
Carbon-fibre dust from trimming, drilling and sanding is electrically conductive, which means accumulation can bridge and short electrical equipment quite apart from any combustion consideration. It is also highly abrasive, which shortens the life of anything it passes through.
The fibres are respirable in the fine fraction, so retained absolute filtration matters for exposure as well as for housekeeping. A unit that exhausts composite fines back into the shop is redistributing both a conductivity problem and an inhalation one.
Foreign object debris
In aerospace, recovery is not only a safety control. FOD is a quality and airworthiness concern, and the discipline around it means housekeeping is already a documented process in most facilities. That works in favour of a properly specified vacuum programme, because the cleaning intervals and records frequently already exist.
It also means the recovery method is judged on whether material is genuinely removed rather than relocated. Compressed-air blowdown fails on both counts here: it disperses combustible fines and it moves debris into places it should not be.
Dedication between materials
Titanium, aluminium and composite should not be collected into a common container. Different metals can react with each other, and mixing composite with metal fines complicates disposal and rules out reclaim.
Where the facility also runs additive manufacturing, the same principle applies more strongly: AM powder is expensive and is reclaimed and re-sieved, so contamination destroys feedstock value as well as creating a hazard.
Group E is the question to settle first
If the recovery involves titanium, aluminium or other conductive metal fines, Group E coverage determines which line is eligible. Confirm the classification of the area with your engineer and we will match the line to it.
Whether a specific alloy can be safely wetted — which decides whether immersion approaches are available — is established by testing the material as your process generates it.
Frequently asked questions
- Which line is certified for titanium and aluminium fines?
- The EX1 HEPA line, whose scope includes Class II Group E — the conductive metal-dust group. The EV EX HEPA line is covered for Groups F and G only and does not carry Group E coverage.
- Is carbon-fibre dust a combustible dust?
- It is conductive and abrasive, and the fine fraction is respirable. Its behaviour as a combustible dust depends on the specific material and is established by testing. The conductivity concern — bridging electrical equipment — applies regardless.
- Can one unit serve a mixed machining shop?
- For collection into a shared container, generally not. Different metals can react with each other and mixing composite with metal fines complicates disposal. Dedicated recovery per material is the normal arrangement.
- Does FOD control change the specification?
- It raises the standard for what counts as removal. Methods that relocate rather than remove — sweeping, blowdown — fail the FOD requirement as well as the dust one, which usually strengthens rather than complicates the case for proper recovery.
Talk to the manufacturer
Get the right explosion proof vacuum for your application.
Tell us what you need to vacuum and where. Our technical team will recommend the PrestiVac model best suited to your material, your classification and how hard you will work it — and because we build every unit ourselves, we can modify it to fit.
- Legally certified explosion proof
- Solid stainless steel construction
- Industry-best 3-year warranty
- Designed & manufactured in the USA
- 200+ vacuum versions