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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Pickling compound for 300, 400, 17-4ph alloys

My company provides electropolishing and passivation services to general industry. We primarily work on 300 series stainless, some 400 series stainless and some 17-4ph stainless. I am looking for a pickling bath that would enable me to brighten and descale these alloys. I have experimented with a bath made of 3-5% ammonium bifluoride, 20% nitric and the balance water. This does quite a nice job, however I am concerned with the health risks associated with this bath. Are there any other pickling baths I could look into and weigh their advantages and disadvantages. I am currently looking into a ferric chloride ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] bath.

Kurt England
Electropolishing Job Shop - Monroe, Connecticut, United States
2004

Please stay away from chlorides if you want to get the best performance in corrosion resistance.

Lee Kremer
Stellar Solutions, Inc.

McHenry, Illinois

2004

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