How to remove discoloration from heat?

[toofazt]

I need to figure out how to remove the discoloration the heat from welding stainless steel produces. I'm using 20GA brushed or mirror finish so I need a solution that doesn't involve abrasives, etc. Possibly an acid I could immerse the part in? Pictures below showing the blue/gold color. Thanks for any help!

[welding101]

passivation is the removal of exogenous iron or iron compounds from the surface of stainless steel by means of a chemical dissolution,most typically by a treatment with an acid solution that will remove the surface contamination but will not affect the stainless steel parts where i work we have a machine that we ground to the welded part then there is a hand held part that you slide a sock type cotton over and put in the acid solution and rub across the welds and it looks like new when done i hope this has helped.

[toofazt]

passivation is the removal of exogenous iron or iron compounds from the surface of stainless steel by means of a chemical dissolution,most typically by a treatment with an acid solution that will remove the surface contamination but will not affect the stainless steel parts where i work we have a machine that we ground to the welded part then there is a hand held part that you slide a sock type cotton over and put in the acid solution and rub across the welds and it looks like new when done i hope this has helped.

Any specific brand names or machine names I can look up? I've heard you can weld the part in a fully saturated container of Argon, but that's not practical for my needs. I'm really looking for something like you explained...

[Samurai Dave]

Any specific brand names or machine names I can look up? I've heard you can weld the part in a fully saturated container of Argon, but that's not practical for my needs. I'm really looking for something like you explained...

Walter makes a line of equipment called Surfox. They aren't cheap (expect to be set back about $1500 ), but they do work well.

http://www.industrialtool.com/prodde...sp?prod=Surfox

[toofazt]

Thanks for the link Dave.

Some interesting info on the topic can also be found here:

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1142

http://www.avestafinishing.com/pages/Page____517.aspx

[phaxtris]

go to your local welding shop or gas supplier and ask for pickling paste, directions are on the side of the container