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Bluing / black oxiding of welded steel

Will the welding of low alloy cast steel cause me any problems during a subsequent bluing operation. The alloy is 1020 cast steel.

Shawn [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Ephrata, Pennsylvania, USA
2003

Hi, Shawn.

Bluing / black oxiding is a conversion process rather than a coating process. That means that the base metal reacts with the process chemicals, and the reaction products consequently depend upon the base metal as well as the process chemicals. Such processes cannot be expected to offer the same surface finish when the base metal varies.

I would not say that it is necessarily impossible to get satisfactory results, but you should expect different results in the weld areas that will require effort to solve.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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December 10, 2011

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