walnut hulls were found to be the best abrasive for cleanjing aluminum surfaces prior to painting. samples vlasted with walnut hulls showed no compressive stress of the surface.samples blasted with abrasives such as silicon carbide, silica sand, or garnet showed average compressive stresses of 23.6-33.1 ksi walnut-hull blasting resulted in the amount of warepage and gave the smoothest surface. the puality of the repainted surfaces was very similar to a first-time painted surface. when purchased in quantity, walnut hulls were the least expensive abrasive.