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Stainless steel brown oxide removal?

I am restoring jet turbine engines for display purposes. This involves cleaning of 316 and other high alloy stainless steels who has been subjected to high temperatures ( 600 deg C to 900 deg C ).

Over time a very tenacious brown oxide has formed. To remove the brown oxide by abrasive methods is considered impossible on these complicated and thin walled and sometimes plated components (blasting is not an option for this reason). Is there a simple brush-on or acid bath or simple electro chemical method for removing this oxide without going all the way to electro polishing?

Eirik Karlsen
- Norway

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