5 Key Business Benefits Of Stainless Steel Pickling

Stainless steel pickling is a metal surface treatment used to remove impurities, such as stains, inorganic contaminants, rust or scale from stainless steel. It is commonly used to remove oxide layers from welding and heat-treating.  A solution containing strong acids, is used to remove the surface impurities. Metal pickling or chemical descaling is but one of several pretreatment steps available for preparing an article for further processing such as passivation or electropolishing, or to perform a superior cleaning operation on welded structures.

Key business benefits of stainless steel pickling are as follows: Uses chemical solutions consisting of nitric and hydrofluoric acids to remove the scale and underlying chromium depleted layers to restore the corrosion resistance of stainless steel. Mechanical removal of those imperfections may leave abrasive material or other particles embedded in the surface and in some applications, mechanical polishing may be impractical. Metal pickling is considered the preferred solution for the restoration of the corrosion resistance in stainless steel. Pickling will further create a uniform dull finish on the workpiece.

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Allegheny Surface Technology is your trusted provider of high-performance, ASTM and BPE compliant electropolishing, pickling, mechanical polishing, and passivation services. Specializing in both in-house and on-site stainless steel surface refinishing/refurbishment services, AST assures both the quality and reliability of our services through multi-step Quality Assurance and inspection protocols.