Chicago, IL Metal Passivation, Polishing & Pickling
It is surprising how little interest some people take in the equipment and material they use every day, most factory owners buy parts and equipment but spend little time thinking about how to build new equipment, or make the equipment they have work faster or smarter.
It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are. – CLIVE JAMES, The Crystal Bucket
Wherever there are machines, there is also friction. Friction is a major cause of loss of power and lowered distribution of power. The most power can be utilized through a frictionless or close to frictionless environment.
Metal Pickling For Machinery
It is quite possible that your machinery could benefit from metal pickling, it’s a process that chemically polishes metal to such a fine degree that it is possible to have old machinery be more beneficial than when you bought it new.
Metal pickling involves a what looks like a hot bath of electro-pickling chemicals with a reversed current. The chemicals contain sodium nitrate and water. When dipped or ‘pickled’ with this reversed current acid bath, the stains from fumes, dyes, rust, grease and oil are removed.
Pickling is sometime also interchanged with the term passivation.
How Passivation Helps Chicago Metal & Machine Factories
Passivation is the use of a light coat of a protective material, such as metal oxide, to create a shell against corrosion.
When a metal is polished by pickling or metal finishing, it is usually referred to as being ‘passivated’. Some examples of surfaces or parts that would need passivation are die cast parts, steel sheets or sheet stock. Usually the protective oxide layer on stainless steel is restored after long term machine use through normal wear and tear.
If you want to see a standard specification for chemical passivation you can find it here.