The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) develops and maintains high standards for metal passivation services. Able Electropolishing meets, among others, the ASTM A380 passivation standard published by this organization. This set of standards specifies the industry’s best practices for cleaning, descaling and passivating stainless steel—services that Able has provided for manufacturers worldwide for years.
The ASTM A380 passivation standard covers various operations in cleaning, descaling and passivating. Stainless steel parts that undergo these processes may require a variety of treatments, including precleaning, chemical descaling, degreasing and more, all of which can be accomplished different ways.
ASTM A380 allows for different types of operations, so long as they are performed to industry standards and create the required finish. This standard specifies different methods for testing the quality of the finish, including wipe tests, high-humidity tests, free iron tests, atomizer tests and more.
Electropolishing Before & After Example
While passivation is useful for removing free iron and contaminants from stainless steel and is more well known, electropolishing is often a better option and can be used on far more metal alloys.
Electropolishing removes a microscopically precise layer of surface material, to tolerances as low as +/-.0001″, depending on the alloy. This degree of precision and consistency, along with the ability to remove a variety of surface imperfections in one process, is why electropolishing is so often specified for critical parts used in medical implants and surgical instruments, aerospace components and fragile or critical parts used in other industries. Electropolishing is a one-stop process for a micro-smooth, ultraclean, corrosion and pathogen-resistant surface finish – with 30 times more corrosion resistance than passivation.
Electropolishing also eliminates the need for additional metal finishing processes like hand deburring, tumbling, pickling, and cleaning.
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Send us your parts/prototypes and we’ll electropolish them for free – we’ll even pay for the shipping! Samples are processed in 24-48 hours.
From implantable devices to surgical instruments, electropolishing is a single-process treatment that results in biocompatible, safe and ultra clean parts.
We offer aerospace vendors and original equipment manufacturers our signature metal finishing services to increase fatigue-resistance for their metal parts, rendering them capable of withstanding the stress and corrosion that comes with long-term use.
Our strict adherence to industry standards ensures that pharmaceutical components are electropolished in accordance with ASTM B912 and ASME BPE specifications. These products are clean and smooth, corrosion resistant and contaminant free.
Corrosion resistance and microfinish improvement are essential for critical automotive parts, making electropolishing an increasingly beneficial option for automakers.
Our metal finishing services help increase corrosion resistance for these parts, and by removing the outermost layer of metal withelectropolishing the durability and longevity of these appliance components is increased.
Electropolishing materials for this industry eliminates the buildup of bacterial biofilms, as well as keeping the equipment free of contaminants like Salmonella. Electropolishing delivers the level of sanitation required by a number of regulatory agencies.
From robotics to mobile equipment, the uses of electropolishing in the hydraulics and pneumatics industry are many. By helping prevent premature part failure, electropolishing reduces downtime and increases the life cycle of these components.
Improving conductivity and performance is just one benefit electropolishing offers for electronics parts. The surface finish is improved by as much as 50%, removing imperfections from the material without material removal.
Read our guide to understand why so many of the world’s best-known manufacturers, including Boeing, SpaceX, Tesla, and Volvo, trust Able to electropolish their metal parts.
From unexpected costs to regulatory compliance and safety hazards, in-house electropolishing can pose significant challenges and risks.
Electropolishing is used to improve surface finish and enhance corrosion resistance, enabling critical metal parts to perform better and last longer.
When a marine and rescue hardware manufacturer started developing parts for rescue harnesses in 2018, they knew they needed to find a metal finishing partner with uncompromising standards and no tolerance for error: lives, literally, hang on the line.
