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Bench-top blackening of aluminum alloy

Q. Part of a medical product I'm working on consists of a subassembly of some aluminum alloy parts, together with optical glass fibers. I need to blacken the aluminum alloy after creating the assembly. Consequently, I need a bench-top process for blackening; preferably one that does not adhere to glass. Blackening the aluminum before assembly doesn't work because the end of the glass fiber must be polished, and this removes any finish from the surrounding metal. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Francis Dudley
- Torrance, California, U.S.A.
2003

Birchwood-Casey Aluminum Black
birchwood-casey_alumablack

on eBay or Amazon

(affil link)

2003

A. If all you need is to have the aluminum look black, then there is a product called Alumablack TM [Birchwood Laboratories] that may be of help to you. If you need corrosion protection also then that product would probably not cut it. How intensive is the polishing process - Would an anodize (hard or type II) stand up to it?

Good luck,

Jim Gorsich
Compton, California, USA

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