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What Does Passivate "Condition B" Mean?

We have a customer drawing that calls for a finish: 'Passivate, Condition B'. No specification is given. I have never heard of this before, does it ring any bells with anyone here?

Kelly Moreland
- Tualatin, Oregon, USA
December 1, 2011

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Hi, Kelly.

I don't even know what 'Passivate' means, let alone 'Condition B' until you tell us more :-)

Stainless steel components are passivated -- is that what you are referring to? Zinc plated components (any others) are passivated via chromate conversion coating. Thanks.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 2, 2011

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December 9, 2011

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the reality check. I'm referring to stainless steel 302 wire.

Part dwg calls out "Passivate, Cond B". Customer isn't sure what it means either, they 'borrowed' it from another dwg thinking 'those who should know will understand'.

Well guess what?

Kelly Moreland
- Tualatin, Oregon

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Hi, Kelly.

One thing that I like to hope we achieve here is encouraging communication between specifiers and providers by letting both know that there is no shame in being unfamiliar with a finishing term :-)

Some terms, even when they appear on a drawing or specification, are just slang that is poorly defined and poorly understood. Even if they are well understood by some people, there is still no shame. I've been in metal finishing for 40+ years, and I still hear terms which are unfamiliar to me. While I wish I were not ignorant of their meanings, and I try to rectify the situation, I don't feel shamed by it :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 11, 2011

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Kelly,
"Condition B" isn't ringing any bells for me either, it's not from the major passivation standard of the recent past, AMSQQP35 [canceled], nor from the standards that replaced it. Possibly it's from some long-forgotten company internal spec. I would recommend the customer drop the mysterious call-out from their drawing and refer to ASTM A967 (or AMS2700 if this is an aerospace part) instead.

Ray Kremer
Stellar Solutions, Inc.

McHenry, Illinois

January 5, 2012