Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Mechanical polishing of aluminum alloy sheets/plates
Q. I am interested in a mechanical polishing solution for Al. alloy sheets of dimension 1600 x 9000 x 1-20 mm. Can someone throw some light on it? Manufacturers can also contact.
Regards,
- Trivandrum, Kerala, India
2003
Ed. note: Sorry, this RFQ is old & outdated, so contact info is no longer available. However, if you feel that something technical should be said in reply, please post it; no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?)
A. Your material is big and you did not exactly identify the processing equipment you have; therefore, some guesses are are in order here. If you are applying some kind of mechanical pressure, such as a wheel, then you may want to consider using an aluminum oxide buffing compound. Other systems may also be able to use this type of product; however, adjustments may have to be made in viscosity. Reactive chemicals are not my specialty, so I will leave that area to someone else.
AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania
2003
Aluminum polishing as mechanical engineering project
2004
Q. We are students in CEGEP in our final year of mechanical engineering. We are making little Stanley Cups that are about 2 inches long out of aluminum and we are looking at ways to polish these cups in some sort of bath or in another way where we can polish many at a time. We have been looking at various solutions such as bright dip (which isn't very acceptable since it gives off a lot of fumes) and we have also looked at corn cob media which would deburr and possibly give some luster. We have to produce 500 Stanley Cups so we need a better method.
Do you any of you know of some products that we could use in shining our products without it being too costly and also not too toxic. We appreciate your help.
Engineering Design Concepts - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
A. You are correct, Roger, that you don't want to brite dip them yourself because of the nastiness of the process--but you could contract it out. But whether you bright dip them or not, mechanical polishing always precedes it anyway (to the best of my knowledge). Some shops who make 500 such items a day still polish them manually on lathes, and I think that's probably what you should do. Although, yes, if they are small they can be mass finished in a vibratory bowl. Good luck.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Seeking mechanical table polishing of aluminum
RFQ: I am looking for a jobshop that can mechanically polish a thin aluminum disc roughly 5 inch diameter x 1/64 inch thick using a rotating planetary polisher such as Strasbaugh or Beuhler polishing station.
I require a reflectance of greater than 90% at 365 nm. Surface roughness needs to be somewhere around 10-20 angstrom Ra.
The 6061-T6 aluminum part is PVD coated with a pure aluminum coating, then a protective SiO coating applied after polishing to prevent oxidation. The flatness of the aluminum disc must be maintained to within 25% of the overall thickness. A turn-key shop would be preferred to produce the part, but my primary concern is providing the polishing step.
I would like to do a run of 8-12 parts, 2-3 times/yr
Semiconductor Equipment Repair - Plano, Texas, USA
May 27, 2008
Ed. note: Sorry, this RFQ is old & outdated, so contact info is no longer available. However, if you feel that something technical should be said in reply, please post it; no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?)
Q. This is another aluminum polishing post. I have read many of the previous articles but still stuck with my problem. I am trying to produce a mirror finish onto aluminum sheet metal to be used as a reflector for a high intensity lamp. I have tried doing the standard mechanical polishing tricks but I cannot get the mirror like finish like I've seen on commercial lighting reflectors. I don't know if I am using the correct polishing compound and/or wheel type. According to comments in article #4276, electropolishing gives a much better finish than mechanical polishing. The phosphoric-nitric acid mix to do this sounds nasty to setup at home, especially for a one off job. I had the concentrated phosphoric acid handy so I gave it a shot. It produced only a smooth white diffuse finish, although it did remove the fine scratches left from the 1200 paper. The nitric acid additive, which I didn't have, must give it the spectacle finish. Is it possible to get mirror like finish on aluminum by mechanical polishing or do I need to take my panel to a local chemical polishing shop ? If mechanical polishing is an option then I can get the right gear to do it.
Adam Seychell- Australia, Melbourne
2000
Q. How to polish a convex diameter 100 mm, Aluminium, Focal required is 200 mm, mirror finish required 4 nano? Please advise.
Thanks!
- Singapore
2003
New mechanical polishing methods for Aluminum?
Q. Our company wants to madk new aluminum outdoor surface and we need some information about new polishing methods for aluminum.
Mostafa mat- tehran,iran
February 26, 2014
A. You didn't indicate how big are your pieces and/or how they final product is to be used. Do you need to protect them against oxidation. Can you give us more info?
AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania
March 3, 2014
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