Effectiveness of passivation test kits?

Is anyone familiar with the effectiveness of the 2026 and 1626 passivation kits made by Koslow? I am trying to test for weld passivation of a 304 hand railing.

S I D E B A R

+++ If any readers have experience with passivation test kits, please answer as generically as possible. Due to the anonymity of the internet we don't print testimonials for specific brands or products; plus it would be unfair to our advertisers for us to spend their money posting messages promoting the product lines of their competitors. Ted Mooney, P.E. finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

I own the Koslow 2026 and have used it for about 5 years with good results. I use it to validate our passivation process on parts for pharmaceutical companies. We have the meter calibrated once a year at a minimum and I think it was about $100 last time. You should plan on purchasing an additional probe to confirm results should there be a doubt.

If the instruments could be proven to give accurate results I would LOVE to use it in our research studies. The concept is certainly very good. I do not want to belittle such equipment if it can be proven to work in an independent study.

An important thing to remember here is that it is not accepted by any specifications, so if you are passivating to a specification such as ASTM A967 [link is to spec at TechStreet] you cannot use this instrument.

Lee Kremer Stellar Solutions, Inc. McHenry, Illinois

Our company owns both Koslow testers mentioned. The 2026 is used with all stainless steels. The 1626 is used with titanium.

Both the Passivation Tester 2026 and the spot test method Passivation Test Kit 1626 can be used for determining the presence of surface free iron. The Tester 2026 can also detect if the passive oxide layer is intact.