Rust Removal from Iron, Steel, and Cast Iron Components

the challenge

A client contacted us with the need to remove rust from oxidized iron, steel, and cast iron parts.

This involved a substantial batch of mechanical components that, due to excessive storage time without prior protection, had oxidized and needed to be recovered before assembly.

The oxide in question was atmospheric rust. The client wished to recover all the oxidized parts without using pickling products containing strong acids, as they were not adequately equipped and considered them too dangerous.

Our solution

First, in examining the iron pickling issue, we verified if the client possessed any industrial metal washing machines or systems that could be used to treat the parts to be deoxidized.

Having verified that the client possessed an ultrasonic tank, we were able to study the consequent iron pickling process. The mechanical action produced by the cavitation of the ultrasound, working in symbiosis with industrial detergents, allows the use of less aggressive products and still achieves excellent final results.

We then tried testing a series of acidic products: we found that the use of an acidic detergent specific for use in ultrasonic tanks allows the total removal of rust from all surfaces.