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Durabrite Surface Treatment on Aluminium Components
Q. Dear Sir,
Request experts to help me in understanding durabright (durabrite) surface finish treatment/process given to aluminium components to improve surface finish & corrosion resistance.
Regards,
Manufacturing Aluminum semifabricated Products - New Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
2003
A. I believe you are referring to Alcoa's Dura-Bright® aluminum wheels. From information on Alcoa's website (http://www.dontpolish.com/), it appears to consist of a buffed finish* protected by a thin clear anodize layer and a top clearcoat. *possibly, also bright dipped. A brushed finish is also available.
Ken Vlach [deceased]- Goleta, California
Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to benefit from.
2003
Durabright may be an overlooked type of aluminium
Q. Semi trucks or large trucks have shiny aluminium wheels that are so easy to clean and stay shiny for years . The brand name for it is Dura-bright . I wonder why Dura-bright technology or patent is not extended to more uses for reflective purposes. I am not clear on how Dura-bright was developed and produced, but it is a great technology yet confined to making shiny truck wheels only. I am sure that there is more uses for Dura-bright technology as if it is intentionally ignored or that it is expensive. Can anyone add to this topic?
Gumbyh Koontz- Antioch, California, USA
November 25, 2015
A. Hi Gumbyh. Dura-Bright® wheels are built of type 6061-T6 alloy according to Alcoa.
But Dura-Bright® is an Alcoa tradename, and has no generic technical meaning; rather, it means whatever they choose for it to mean at a given time. There is Dura-Bright 'regular' (pre 2003), Dura-Bright 'XBR' (2003-2013), and Dura-Bright 'EVO' (2014+) -- three different generations, and presumably they are actually different from each other as Alcoa implies.
A wild guess is that 'regular' is only anodized, 'XBR' is clear coated after anodizing, and 'EVO' has a higher technology clearcoat, perhaps a plasma silicon oxide clear coating. If anyone actually knew exactly what the technology was, we couldn't say anyway, as we can't use the page to 'crowd-source industrial espionage' :-)
However, I don't think it's true that the technology is restricted to wheels. I think Alcoa may have chosen to restrict that tradename to wheels; but surely other companies offer high technology anodizing and/or high technology clearcoats.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 2015
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