Letter 13114

BLACK OXIDE SET-UP 

I was told to set-up a Black oxide line with no specification or the amount of tanks and rinse tanks needed. The type of material suitable for the chemical. Can any specialist help me out. Must the black oxide be everytime comes out black after plating process or is it blue-black.

Thank you,

Tessensohn Albert
- Singapore

It'll come out black.

But real black oxide operates at about 290 deg. F, which means when water is added to make good the evaporation losses it can instantly flash to steam and cause the tank to blow boiling hot caustic soda over everyone if it's not done right. You shouldn't design this yourself; get a professionally designed black oxide tank or use a proprietary room temperature blackening solution. Talk to Heatbath or EPI.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

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