#1047 Brite Passivating/ Decorative
Industry:
Automotive - Manufacturers of Truck Hardware
Mfg/Method:
Stamping
Alloy:
304 Stainless Steel
Problem:
The alloy’s skin has iron and steel particles imbedded on the surface after coming in contact with carbon steel tooling during fabrication. This normal surface contamination caused rust to appear on the bracket after being exposed to the elements.
Solution:
Electropolishing cleans up the part, giving it the chrome look by electrochemically removing the outer layer of the metal surface. This further enhanced the corrosion resistance and enriched the chromium oxide layer on the surface.
Note to engineer: Passivation is normally specified to dissolve imbedded iron from fabrication, and has a proven track record of improvement. However, electropolishing in this and other cases ends up being a better solution partly because of the more complete cleaning of the surface, and also because of the resultant bright surface. This dual benefit in many cases outweighs the normally higher cost of electropolishing. We encourage you to send samples to get a full and complete cost/ benefit comparison to your present decontamination methods.
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