COMPONENT ENGINEERING

W201,MIDC AMBAD, NASHIK - 422010.

ACID PICKLING PROCESS

Instructions:-

Acid pickling is done for the stainless steel castings to

prevent them from rusting. The method followed is explained below:Standard Reference:- ASTM A 380.
First of all chemical cleaning is done to remove all extraneous matter, dirt, dust,
grease, oil, welding slag, loose rust, oxide scales that may be present on the S S
Castings to avoid the contamination by way of iron pick up.

Sequence of operation:- Cleaning of segments shall be carried out in the

following sequence:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Flushing with the water to remove dirt, loose rust and foreign Matter.
Degreasing
Acid cleaning
Final rinsing and drying.

Chemicals:01] Caustic potash rayon.

02] Nitric acid
03] Hydrofluoric acid confirming to ASTM or equivalent. In any case, purity should
not be less than 50%
HF by wt.
4] Water/chloride free water (chloride level 50 ppm) should be used for flushing and
rinsing operation.

Pickling operation:1.

All the SS castings required pickling should be flushed with water/chloride

free water [chloride up to 50ppm] to remove all extraneous matter, dirt and
dust etc.

2.

After flushing, degreasing shall be carried out in a Pickling bath to remove

grease, oil and organic coating if any. Degreasing solution shall be Potassium
Hydroxide of concentration 50 gm/lit[100% purity basis] Temp. of solution
during pickling shall be 50-55 deg. Cel. for a duration of about 01Hr.
After degreasing, above segments should be rinsed with above quality of
water. Rinsing should be continued till the neutral PH is obtained.
After step 3, above segments shall be pickled with acid mixture of Nitric
acid[HNO3] and Hydrofluoric acid[HF]. Composition of the pickling solution
should be20% HNO3 by vol.(on 100%purity basis)and 0.5%HF by vol.(on
100% purity basis). Pickling solution can be prepared at room temperature
and for duration of 15-30 minutes. However exact concentration of acid
mixture and duration shall depend on cleaning of the above segments based
on visual inspection.
After pickling above segments should be rinsed with water.
Finally dry all the segments by clean air.

3.
4.

5.
6.

Note :- Pickling solution can be prepared in suitable bath and cleaning of above
segments can be done by dipping or immersion method. Separate bath should
be used for each operation.
After acid pickling the inspection should be carried out & recorded in a register.

We have Acid Pickling Plastic Tank of size 5X5X6 01 no.

Mixture solution =[100 lit water+ 20 lit HNO3+5LIT HF]