| Search our quarter-million Q&As |
Home of the finishing HOTLINE since 1989
-----Brass zipper turned green; how to remove corrosion
Q. Hello,
We are garment makers. we use brass zipper on some of the items. recently we shipped a consignment of jackets with brass zipper and it took about a month to reach the customer. the customer complained the zipper had green and white deposits on the zipper. the garment is made from printed material. The garment gives off a smell that seems that there was some untreated ammonia left in the fabric process.
I am attaching photos of what was found. Please help if any way to simply clean off these deposits in a safe way? we tried a small experiment on one garment by dabbing the deposit with HCl and the deposit melted away. but this is not a safe method to use on 12000 pieces.
Meherally Mahmud
- Karachi, Sind, Pakistan
2006
A. Don't use any acids; Good old Brasso ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] should do the needful to clean up and offer corrosion protection for some time.
Khozem Vahaanwala
Saify Ind
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
A. Try 2-5% ammonium citrate solution, pH must be 8,5-9. Immerse (min. 30 sec.) in hot solution (80 °C) and then rinse it very well. (Try it on some test pieces)! Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija- Cerovski vrh Croatia
Ed. note: Goran tells us how to make this ammonium citrate solution from citric acid and ammonia in thread 28709.
Sorry! Finishing.com is temporarily Read-Only.
Ted Mooney is retiring but I have several offers to take it over.
We're working hard to make sure we find it the best new home.