Glossary Terms for

Metal Finishing

Metal finishing encompasses the surface treatment, coating, and surface quality operations applied to fabricated parts to improve corrosion resistance, appearance, hardness, and adhesion. The terms below cover surface preparation, coating types, application methods, testing, and quality standards.

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Abrasive Blasting (Sandblasting)
A surface preparation process that propels abrasive media (steel shot, grit, glass bead, aluminum oxide) at high velocity against metal surfaces to remove mill scale, rust, weld spatter, and old coatings.
Adhesion Testing
Quality control evaluation methods used to verify that a paint or coating has bonded adequately to a substrate.
Anodizing
An electrochemical process that converts the surface of aluminum into a dense, hard aluminum oxide layer.
Chemical Conversion Coating
A surface treatment that forms a protective coating by chemical reaction with the base metal.
Clear Coat
A transparent finishing coat applied over a basecoat or powder coat to provide additional UV protection, gloss enhancement, or a secondary chemical resistance layer.
Corrosion Resistance
The ability of a metal or coated surface to withstand degradation by moisture, chemicals, salt, or galvanic action.
Deburring
The removal of burrs, sharp edges, and projections left by shearing, laser cutting, machining, or stamping.
Edge Rounding
A finishing process that creates a smooth, consistent radius on cut or sheared edges.
Electroplating
An electrochemical process that deposits a thin, controlled layer of metal (zinc, chrome, nickel, or tin) onto a substrate.
Electrostatic Application
A powder coating or wet paint technique that charges coating particles electrostatically, causing them to be attracted to and wrap uniformly around the grounded workpiece.
Galvanizing (Hot-Dip Galvanizing)
A process in which cleaned steel is immersed in a bath of molten zinc at approximately 840 degrees F.
Graining (Brushed Finish)
A decorative surface treatment applied to stainless steel or aluminum by brushing in a single direction with abrasive belts or pads.
Grinding
An abrasive metal removal process used to smooth weld seams, remove surface imperfections, prepare edges, or achieve a specific surface finish.
Media Blasting
A surface preparation process using selected media such as glass bead, plastic bead, steel shot, or walnut shell, chosen to achieve a specific surface profile and cleanliness level without damaging the substrate.
Mil Thickness
The measurement of coating dry film thickness in thousandths of an inch (mils).
Passivation
A chemical treatment of stainless steel using nitric or citric acid to remove free iron and other surface contaminants, allowing the natural chromium oxide passive layer to fully develop.
Polishing
An abrasive finishing process that uses progressively finer abrasive compounds or buffing wheels to reduce surface roughness and increase surface reflectivity.
Powder Coating
A dry finishing process in which electrostatically charged powder resin is applied to a grounded metal part and cured in a convection oven at 325 to 400 degrees F.
Primer
A preparatory coating applied to bare metal before the topcoat to promote adhesion, provide a first layer of corrosion resistance, and fill minor surface imperfections.
Salt Spray Testing
An accelerated corrosion test (ASTM B117) in which coated parts are exposed to a continuous salt fog environment to evaluate the long-term corrosion resistance of a coating system.
Shot Peening
A mechanical surface treatment in which small metallic or ceramic shot is blasted at a metal surface to induce compressive residual stresses in the surface layer.
Surface Profile (Anchor Pattern)
The microscopic roughness created on a metal surface by abrasive blasting, measured in mils of peak-to-valley height.
Surface Roughness (Ra)
A measure of the texture of a machined or finished surface, expressed as the arithmetic average deviation of surface height from the mean plane.
TGIC Polyester Powder
A powder coating formulation using Triglycidyl Isocyanurate as the curing agent, known for exceptional UV resistance, outdoor durability, gloss retention, and chalk resistance.
Topcoat
The final finishing coat applied over primer or conversion coating.
Tumbling (Vibratory Finishing)
A mass finishing process in which parts are placed with abrasive media in a rotating barrel or vibrating bowl.
Wet Paint (Liquid Coating)
Traditional coating application using solvent-borne or waterborne liquid paint, applied by spray gun, brush, or roller.
Zinc Phosphate Pretreatment
A chemical conversion coating applied to steel prior to liquid painting or powder coating, which improves paint adhesion and provides a first layer of corrosion resistance by creating a crystalline zinc phosphate surface layer.

Glossary Term Categories

Laser Cutting
Press Braking
Welding
CNC Shearing
Metal Finishing
CNC Machining
NEMA Enclosures
Weldments, Bollards & Guards

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