Prevent Rust During These 3 Critical Phases of the Metal Parts Manufacturing Process

Nobody likes rust problems – not you, not your customers. Fortunately, the care you take with your products can significantly reduce rust. Use the following tips in your daily processes and you’ll have less rust.

1. At Your Facility

• • Personnel should always wear gloves while handling metal parts during production, inspection and packaging.
  • Metal parts should never come in direct contact with wood pallets, corrugated boxes, or untreated paper.
  • Manufacturing and shipping areas should be temperature controlled and allow for no more than a 10 degree shift at any time.

2. Cutting and Cleaning

• • Keep your cleaning solutions and metalworking fluids free of small metal particles “swarf” that can cause galvanic corrosion.
  • Make sure all cleaning solutions and metalworking fluids maintain a pH of 9.0 or above for ferrous metal, and 7-7.5 for non-ferrous metal.
  • Use only deionized or distilled water for cutting and cleaning fluids.
  • Keep metal parts away from industrial air contaminants such as exhaust from lift trucks and heat treat areas.

3. Packaging

• • Metal parts must remain covered with VCI paper and/or poly throughout the entire manufacturing process.
  • Metal parts must be clean, dry and free of fingerprints before packaging.
  • Use a combination of both VCI paper and VCI poly for complete corrosion protection.
  • Keep the VCI bag open until the metal parts inside reach the ambient air temperature.

To completely eliminate rust from forming, your metal parts must be protected at every phase of the production process. At Green Packaging, Inc. we have over 20 years experience improving outcomes for some of the biggest names in the metal manufacturing industry. Does your rust problem have you stumped? Give us a call!