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Passivation can mean the success or failure of a device. For example, in the medical and pharmaceutical industries, passivation plays an essential role in protecting the health of patients and consumers. Device passivation is used to protect asthmatic drugs from corrosion, surgical tools from rust, and the integrity of lifesaving equipment..

What is the difference between pickling and passivation? Passivation is less aggressive than pickling, only adding an oxidative layer that is .0000001inches thick. In some cases, pickling can also be used to prepare metal before passivation.

Although both processes are used to raise the chromium content in metal, they achieve this by different means. Passivation uses an acidic solution, while pickling uses heat. This means that pickling removes the heat-affected layer of stainless steel, while passivation only removes iron from the surface.