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Zinc balls (nodules) are forming when we mechanically galvanize

I am working in mechanical galvanizing process.
We want to know if there is a way to avoid zinc balls in the process. Those balls are from micron to .125''.
Is there an easy way to avoid making them and is there a chemical or physical way to get rid of it.
Regards

Guy Croteau
internet - Granby, Quebec, Canada
January 28, 2008

Zinc balls typically form when tramp metal from the parts (or occasionally other sources) gets plated, and circulates with the media, getting additional thickness from each cycle. Eliminating the tramp metal (assuming it is ferrous, which it almost always is) with a strong magnet is a preemptive measure. Stripping the media with acid is a corrective measure. There are other sources and other remedies as well.

Tom Rochester
CTO - Jackson, Michigan, USA
Plating Systems & Technologies, Inc.

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February 6, 2008

adv.

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