Metal finishing Q&As since 1989
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Anodizing hot-dipped aluminized steel
November 16, 2012
Q. Hello everyone. I am MSc student from Iran, studying material science and engineering. I am working on my thesis. Last step of my thesis is to anodize hot-dipped aluminized steel. At first I thought it's the easiest part of my research and I can easily anodize the aluminium but I have stuck on it.
1st of all I tried conventional hard anodizing (low temp) and it was unsuccessful.
Then I tried U.S. patent 3650910 "www.google.com/patents/US3650910?printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q&f=false" and then U.S. patent 2839455 "www.google.com/patents/US2839455?printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q&f=false". I have tried both patents with no results.
I have also found 2 non-accessible articles about this "eprints.nmlindia.org/2177/index.html" and "trove.nla.gov.au/work/117896262?q=anodize+aluminize&c=article&versionId=131371689"
Can anyone help me what should I do?
Maybe sealing the aluminium before anodizing? Or even trying PEO instead of anodizing?
- Tehran ,Iran
A. Hi Omid. PEO is significantly more difficult than conventional anodizing, so I don't think you should do that. I think you should try anodizing some plain aluminum first, and after you have achieved anodizing on that, then move on to the aluminized surface. Patents are not the best tutorials. I suggest trying to find an anodizing textbook, or at least a copy of the Metal Finishing Guidebook.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 19, 2012
A. Hi Omid
Patents are written for many reasons but almost never intended to give clear production details.
Why start with hard anodising? Conventional room temperature sulfuric anodising is much simpler for a beginner. 10-15% sulfuric and 25v could be a good place to start. There are many complex voltage profiles etc for specific purposes but they will only confuse your experiments.
It would be useful to mask the edges of your sheets if any steel is exposed; mixed metals can do strange things in an anodise tank. Start with plain Al sheets until you have that part of the process working well.
Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England
November 28, 2012
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