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Blue anodize is developing a green "dust"

October 4, 2011

Hi,

We had a mix of aluminum parts Blue anodized in different batches. The parts were assembled and placed in a clean room for a burn in period. The parts developed a green "dust" for want of a better description.
The vendor has no explanation for what occurred.

Can anyone help?

Mark Pitsas
Project Leader - Cohoes, New York, USA

What do you mean by "burn in"? If that is heat, then apparently you have exceeded the temperature that the particular blue dye can withstand. Another possibility is that the parts were not completely sealed.

Robert H Probert
Robert H Probert Technical Services

Garner, North Carolina

October 6, 2011

Hi, Robert.

Electronic devices suffer a high rate of failure early on ("infant mortality"); and a way of weeding out those marginal parts to increase reliability is to run them at an elevated temperature, often 125 °C, for a week.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
October 7, 2011

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