Dry ice blasting is based on the use of dry ice. Dry ice blasting machines utilize compressed air to accelerate dry ice pellets to a high velocity and blast them at the surface for treatment.

The functioning principle of dry ice is based on 3 effects:

1. Impact effect
   The kinetic impact energy is the product of the dry ice mass and velocity, raised to the square, divided by two. The nozzles are specially designed to reach extremely high kinetic energy values.
   
   
2. Thermal shock effect
   The difference in temperature between the surface that is being treated and the dry ice leads to a considerable temperature gradient, causing microscopic cracks in the contaminant layer, causing it to come off.
   
   
3. Microexplosion effect
   Dry ice turns into gas at the point of impact with the surface that is being treated. The volume of the gas is nearly 800 times larger than the volume of the dry ice particle, resulting in a lifting force that removes the contaminated layer from the surface.