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Aluminium finish required to protect new kitchen product design from food stuff acids

May 9, 2011

My name is Benjamin Childs. I am a Product Design Student at Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

My final year major project has taken then form of a food preparation worktop for the domestic kitchen. Key to the design for functional and aesthetic reasons is an Aluminium Chassis. The chassis holds two beech wood chopping boards and a stoneware waste collection tray.

My interest is in the finish you would recommend I specify for the Aluminium. I would like to protect it from the damaging effects of tomato juice acids for example.

The Aluminium parts will be formed by way of metal stamping, then they will be welded together.

Could you please recommend a finish that would best protect the Aluminium from these kitchen chemicals. I am not 100% sure on the exact Aluminium specification I would use, although 5000 series Aluminium does initially seem to fit the application. If another Al spec would fit the bill better, please suggest.

Thanks very much in advance,

Ben

Benjamin Childs
Student - Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK

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Anodizing (sealed) would be the logical choice, and is available in a plethora of colors.... however aesthetics may be an issue if the welds are visible (welds typically will anodize to a different color than the base alloy). You could also look at Teflon as an option, or a combination of the two. Both of these coatings are commonly used in cookware.

Marc Green
anodizer - Boise, Idaho
May 13, 2011