1020 Steel alternative

[BAMTech]

Our current customer has a part that's made out of 1020 Steel. We're having oxidation issues with the part. The part is shipped off for some outside machining, where the job shop soaks them in WD-40. After this the parts are then shipped off to be nickel plated. The plater has stated that the WD-40 is difficult to remove and takes up to three days soaking for the part to be clean.
Parts still comeback to us with oxidation on the surface and in the threaded holes. We've gone back to the plater and the job shop to discuss this issue. This has turned into a round of finger pointing. The plater blames the job shop for plating interference caused by the WD-40 and requests that they be soaked and shipped in cutting fluid. The job shop states that they no longer use WD-40 and have switched to the cutting fluid and that the plating company is to blame, stating that they must have left the parts out of the cutting fluid for to long.
We're looking to bypass the entire blaming process and are looking to use a stainless steel alternative.
Property wise is a 304 or 303 steel compatible with 1020 steel?

 

[mcguire]

You could use 303 or 304, but a ferritic stainless steel, like 430, would work and be a lot cheaper to buy and cheaper to machine.

Michael McGuire

http://stainlesssteelforengineers.blogspot.com/

 

[arunmrao]

There are too many solutions available to prevent rusting of machined parts apart from those discussed. A discussion with your lubricant or cutting fluid representative might help.

If the parts are small and thin walled ,303 might pose a cracking problem at times. This is just a piece of caution..

_____________________________________
"It's better to die standing than live your whole life on the knees" by Peter Mayle in his book A Good Year

 

[metengr]

There is not enough information in the OP to answer if a simple material change is acceptable. This is more of a process handling problem than a materials issue. Go back and work with the vendors or find alternative vendor(s) that can work this out.

 

[unclesyd]

Here is one on several companies that supply specific products to prevent your problem with flash rusting while the parts are resting. I would give them a call and ask for a recommendation and at the same time you give your requirements make sure you discuss cleaning the material off.

I don't think the cutting oil is the way to go while some may work others should be removed as fast as possible from a machined part.

http://www.chemtool.com/products/rust-removers-and-rust-preventives.html

 

[ornerynorsk]

Is there a reason that the parts can't be packed in vci paper while in transit or staging from one op to the next?

Maybe the plater needs to test its wash bath, sounds like they might be trying to save money by running a depleted tank. Have you tried another plater?

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[BAMTech]

VCI paper is something that we haven't looked at. and might be a viable option.

Replacing the WD-40 with a rust inhibitor still adds the step of removing the inhibitor before coating. I heard good things about Fluid Film but I'm not familiar with how difficult it would be to remove completely from the part.

 

[TVP]

BAMTech,

The parts MUST go through a cleaning operation prior to plating regardless of what type of rust inhibitor is used, so the only issue is one of compatibility: can the rust inhibitor/coating film be satisfactorily removed by the cleaning process used by the plating company. It is difficult for me to believe that it takes 3 days of immersion in a proper cleaning bath to remove the dried film from WD-40, but that is probably a topic for another discussion. It should be very easy to verify that machined parts with cutting fluid only can be cleaned and plated with no defects. Has this been done?