Pickling removes the oxide scale, rust and contamination that a coating or plating layer cannot bond through.
Acid choice follows the substrate: hydrochloric for carbon steel, a nitric-hydrofluoric mixture for stainless, sulphuric where its cost or line configuration favours it.
What we supply
Hydrochloric Acid (35% and 37%), Sulphuric Acid 98%, Nitric Acid 69-70%, Hydrofluoric Acid 70% and Sodium Bifluoride.
What we supply
Hydrochloric Acid 35%Hydrochloric Acid 37%Sulphuric Acid 98%Nitric Acid 69-70%Hydrofluoric Acid 70%Sodium Bifluoride
Hydrochloric acid The standard pickle for carbon steel: fast on mill scale and rust, and it rinses cleanly. Pickling rate and steel loss are controlled with an inhibitor rather than by cutting concentration.
Nitric and hydrofluoric The stainless steel pair. Nitric acid passivates while HF attacks the chromium-depleted layer that nitric alone cannot remove.
Sulphuric acid Used hot where its economics beat hydrochloric, and in electrolytic pickling lines. It behaves differently on scale, so line design and acid choice go together.
Coating adhesion starts here Every downstream coating fails at the same place — an unprepared surface. Pickling is what removes the oxide layer a coating cannot bond through.
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