Type II Anodize
What is Anodizing?
What is Anodizing?
Anodizing is an electrolytic process using a sulfuric acid bath and applied DC current, this creates the growth of aluminum oxide that is an integral part of the aluminum, creating a hard, corrosion resistant, durable thin coating. This newly formed aluminum oxide is a porous structure and allows for secondary processes such as color and sealing.
Applying Color
After the anodizing process has built up the aluminum oxide film, the material is pulled out of the anodizing solution.Material is rinsed in tanks with deionized water, freeing any sulfuric acid from the surface or pockets that can hold solution.Once rinsed, the material is then placed in an Organic Dye in which absorbs into the pores created during the anodizing process. Once dyed, anodized aluminum colors parts are sealed, creating a long lasting durable finish.
Type III Anodize
What is Hardcoat?
Hardcoat is a name typically used to describe a form of Anodizing. It is achieved by running the material with higher current densities, lower bath temperatures, bath additives, and a higher acid concentrations. This allows the aluminum oxide to create smaller, denser pores, thus accounting for the hardness. It creates a surface that has excellent abrasion resistance.
Colors
A true hardcoat finish darkens the substrate, making it difficult to see the vividness of dyed colors. The material will always have a darker appearance compared to regular anodizing. We recommended to only apply a Black dye to a hardcoat finish.
Black Oxide
What is Black Oxide?
Black oxide is a conversion coating for steel. It adds slight corrosion resistance, and applies an even black finish for appearance. Oil must be applied in order to achieve corrosion resistance. It provides a negligible build up, making tolerance changes a non-issue.
Black oxide requires racking or fixturing a part. It is then submerged into a cleaning solution to remove any oil from the surface. Once cleaned and free of any contaminants, they are transfered over to a hot Black oxide solution, made up of sodium hydroxide, nitrates, and nitrites. The steel parts stay in the solution and convert the surface to magnetite. Once finish is reached, parts are sealed
Once finish is reached, parts are sealed with an oil for corrosion resistance.
Blast Prep
What is Blast Prep?
We have came up with our own mix of media that is a great pretreatment to our anodizing, traditional grit blasting perform poorly for anodizing, our blasting leaves a clean uniform appearance.
We offer cabinet blasting and wheel blasting for bulk items. We use a proprietary media which creates a flawless texture. Please inquire to know more about our blast finish.
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