An aluminum anodizing service can help your business manufacture aluminum parts. Anodizing is a passivation process, known for increasing the oxide layer’s thickness. By increasing its thickness, less oxygen can react with it. As a result, anodizing prevents the likelihood of something corroding. Plus, it can preserve the metal’s electrical conductivity, preventing resistance from developing.
How Does an Aluminum Anodizing Service Work?
To anodize aluminum, an electrical current is run through it while it sits in an electrolytic solution. By using aluminum as an anode, electrons flow into it. So, its oxide layer begins expanding once it’s charged. Sometimes, they’ll run nitric acid over it before anodizing. This helps to prevent anything from sticking to its surface while it’s in solution.
Why Should You Anodize Aluminum?
When using aluminum, corrosion is always one of the biggest concerns. If exposed to oxygen, aluminum quickly begins corroding, impacting its performance. Corroded aluminum isn’t as good at conducting electricity, and it’s brittle. So, by anodizing aluminum, its lifespan usually extends. Plus, its conductivity doesn’t change as much while it ages. That’s why you can still use anodized aluminum years after it was produced. Also, one may add colors to the oxide layer while you’re anodizing aluminum. The final product’s color depends on what’s used while it’s anodized. By putting in certain pigments, you can pick the final color you’d like. Finally, anodized aluminum tends to hold its value better than non-anodized options.
