Manganese phosphate coating on steel

A. Hi Adam. First, I don't want to toss around the term "food safe" without agreeing what it means :-(

Many materials that are not "poison" or "toxic materials" are not "food safe" either. For example, zinc is an essential micro-nutrient rather than a poison, but it can dissolve in acids or alkalis, possibly even resulting in an overdose, and it's not food safe by anyone's measure, even if you find no regulation forbidding it. Some of the laws & guidelines set limits on "dissolution" and manganese phosphate is probably not food safe simply by this definition.

Further, if you want to sell such a product there probably are FDA regulations that you can only use GRAS ("generally recognized as safe") materials; there might be NSF or some other applicable guidelines on appropriate materials as well. There are a boatload of regulations in the world today, and they are expanding rapidly; I would not be willing to say that anyone can offer anything for sale without a careful study of the laws regulating that trade.

Then too, what kind of "oil" are you speaking of? A few, like olive oil and mineral oil, are non-poisonous, but petroleum oils are poison.

Interesting question. I hope someone with specific tableware or kitchenware experience will respond.

Regards,

A. Good day Ng Tuan Huat.

Surely you are working toward a specification.
I work with a minimum/maximum coating weight requirement.
I would think the variations in colour tones is a process control issue.
You state all other parameters are within acceptable limits.
What are your parameters? Do you have a water-break free surface on the substrate before phosphating? Are you using an acid dip before phosphate? I have found dilute HCl to produce denser crystals.
Are you using a dilute chrome solution after phosphate, and if so, what is the concentration?
What is your free/total acid ratio? What is your iron concentration? What is the temperature?
All of these parameters affect the crystal structure of the deposit.
What is the substrate, and does it contain chromium, and if so,how much?" Max 2% will prove difficult.
Do you examine the deposit under a microscope to determine the density of the crystals? If so, can you see the substrate in between the crystals?
Are you conducting salt spray testing, and if so, what is the outcome?
There were only three questions in your posting, and I have posted you a total of eleven.
There are many variables involved to produce a uniform/acceptable deposit.
Hope this helps.

Regards,

A. Good day Rodrigo.

Good Info @ letter #26694. This web site has a plethora of info!

Regards,

 Yes indeed, this site has a plethora.

Regards,

A. Hi Nitin. Unfortunately you can't ask a third party to put a fine point on someone else's slang and casual phrasing. There is no way for me to know whether "Zn Manganese" is intended to mean "Zinc Phosphating with additional dicationic ions of manganese" vs. "Manganese Phosphating", or what exactly "Nickel Manganese" was intended to mean, or whether "Manganese Coating" was intended to mean "Manganese Phosphating". Guessing is not the way to proceed; you must get clarification and hopefully mutually agree to a more carefully worded specification.

Normally there will be additional criteria like salt spray hours for testing, coating weight, compliance with a specific standard number from a generally recognized organization like ASTM or ISO, etc. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Kathik. Tracking the parts seems a lot more practical than mixing them and then chemically testing every individual piece to re-separate them.

Although I personally have very low confidence in visual identification of finishes, I think only you can answer whether your people can reliably visually sort your specific zinc phosphate from your specific manganese phosphate. Sorry to be of no help :-(

Regards,

A. Regarding visual identification of phosphate coatings:
Zinc phosphate coatings will typically exhibit a dark gray color. Manganese phosphate coatings will typically exhibit a dark black color.