...should have added that if you are in a really humid atmosphere, you may need to re-passivate the stainless steel with some Nitric Acid - Google for the method - basically, SS doesn't corrode largely because it has a layer of CrO2 on its surface - when made, the SS is completely de-greased and then pickled in Nitric Acid - this removes any free Fe from the surface leaving the remaining Cr ions to react with oxygen to produce a layer of Chromium Oxide a few molecules thick.
4Cr + 3O2 → 2Cr2O3 In a dry atmosphere, the newly brushed SS will form its own passivation layer in time... You can "matt" the surface with Hydrofluoric Acid (i.e., micro etch it) - this works well but not all SS is the same and micro-etching is not suitable for high-Sulphur steels (303 grade) and low-Nickel grades (400 series). HTH Nick -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/0832d5b2-4a2b-45e9-b9b3-41bb231f8f7c%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
