| Search our quarter-million Q&As |
Home of the finishing HOTLINE since 1989
-----Test for Brass Vs Zinc Plating
Is there a simple test to determine if the steel nuts we purchased are actually zinc plated instead of brass plated?
Hannah LowBuyer - Singapore
January 14, 2011
January 20, 2011
Who plates steel nuts with brass?
Steel nuts are plated with zinc or zinc alloys. On top of the zinc plating there is a post treatment which in most cases is bluish or sometimes irrediscent yellow.
Sara Michaeli
Tel-Aviv-Yafo, Israel
I have seen cheap decorative nuts plated with brass, to have the steel strength and the brass color. A proper choice of brass parent metal would negate this and be a better product.
The test, put 1 nut in a cup of vinegar
⇦ in bulk on
eBay
or
Amazon [affil link] and stir for several minutes. if the solution gets a yellow tint it is zinc with a chromate. Let it set for an hour and it will probably have stripped most of the zinc off also. brass should not be affected to any great degree.
- Navarre, Florida
January 20, 2011
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.