PRODUCT NEWS


REMOVING RUST FROM STAINLESS STEEL - WITHOUT SCRATCHING


W


e might be deep in the winter Blues, but spring surely can’t be far away and with it the


opportunity for your customers to clean and brighten things up. But can that include rusty stainless steel?


Whether it is stainless steel street furniture or the balconies and railings that were fitted a couple of years ago, there are numerous reasons why the stainless steel might begin to show signs of ‘tea staining’ or rust. Street furniture, in particular, can suffer corrosion from road salt or general pollution while any stainless near a salt- water environment can easily suffer from damage if the saltwater droplets are able to sit on the surface for any length of time. As the most common chemical


processes for cleaning stainless steel involved an aggressive chemical followed by a neutraliser. It has always meant that the only practical method of cleaning stainless steel on site was using mechanical methods.


12 / WELDING WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 01 - JANUARY 2025


304 v 316 Stainless Steel 304 and 316 are the most commonly used stainless steel grades in exterior fixtures and fittings, they are similar to each other. But not the same. There are many different grades of


stainless steel, but essentially it can be called stainless if it contains a minimum of 10% chromium in the alloy. Both 304 and 316 stainless steels would contain a minimum of 16% chromium. 316 stainless will have a slightly reduced amount of chromium compared to 304 but importantly it also contains around 2% molybdenum in the alloy. The addition of the molybdenum is particularly important to reduce the risk of corrosion from chloride salts


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40