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Thread 2943

Problem - Nickel Acetate Seal

Producing a film on our Black Anodize

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Q. We currently seal our color anodize work with a Nickel Acetate Seal. Our problem is that
almost all of my black anodize work comes out with a sealer film on it which must be wiped. I
have tried setting up a brand new seal & the problem still occurs. I was told we should be filtering
the Nickel Acetate Seal, but I think just setting up a brand new tank would have given me the
same results. Specific info on our seal tank: Make up: 4 grams / liter Nickel Acetate 5 grams / liter
Tamol SN dispersant Temperature: 195+ deg F. Immersion Time: 5 - 10 minutes PH: 5.3 - 5.6
Agitation: Tank has very good air agitation Does anyone see anything wrong with our tank? Does
anyone have any advice on how to eliminate this film? Perhaps someone has good experience
with another seal. Of course it would have to meet the mil-spec. Any help is greatly appreciated.

David A. Kraft
- Long Island City, New York
1999
publicly reply to David A. Kraft's post ⇧

A. David, Are you using proprietary nickel acetate seal or you made it up youself? The process
you mentioned looks OK. My question is how you made up the solution. I mean what water
you used, DI water or city tap water. It is very important using DI water to make up sealing
solution. Adding 0.5% ammonium acetate may help a little bit. In proprietary fomulations,
special complexing agents and surfactants are also used in addition to dispersants. These
compounds would help remove the white smut on surface. Of course filtration is very helpful.
If you still cannot solve the problem after you make up new solution, I recommend you to use
Anoseal 2000 from Henkel which gives you less troubles. Good luck. Ling

Ling Hao
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
1999
publicly reply to Ling Hao's post ⇧

A. I wan't going to answer this, since I thought I couldn't give my opinion without getting
proprietary, but Ling Hao has been gracious enough to give me an opening. The product he
refers to is actually Anoseal 1000, which is a blend of nickel acetate and a surfactant package.
(Anoseal 2000 refers to our nickel fluoride seals, not recommended for dyed work.) Otherwise,
I agree with just about everything Mr. Hao says, particularly his final recommendation. I'm not
so sure that ammonium acetate would help very much, as ammonium complexes nickel at the
working pH of the bath, removing its sealing capabilities. Getting back to Anoseal, I was a
customer of Novamax's predecessors (Specialty and Diversey) for some sixteen years, then
worked as a competitor for some ten years before Novamax came under the Henkel wing, and
we always considered the Anoseal as the benchmark of seal products.. Now that I have seen
some of their formulas, I can tell you a proprietary secret: early Anoseal products used Tamol
SN as the dispersant, but Anoseal 1000 really became the seal of choice in the industry for
sealing colored anodize when Tamol was replaced by a better surfactant package. Our
company can test for the present dispersant content in the bath, which is important, as many
customer problems we see are often a result of too little or too much dispersant. We also have
been marketing a new non-nickel seal with a similar surfactant package, which has had some
initial successes. I would also caution you, David, to make sure the seal is your culprit. I have
seen old dye baths leave residues.

Phil Johnson
- Madison Heights, Michigan
1999
publicly reply to Phil Johnson's post ⇧

A. I think that Phil and Ling are correct as I have seen a similar problem at a Denver shop
where I was working, which made up its own Nickel Acetate seals, and we could not locate the

f f f
 additive which we had been previously using. It was the lack of a surfactant/additive which left
a white residue which had to be wiped off. We went to a proprietary Nickel Acetate/Cobalt
Acetate Seal solution which was on various QPLs and that solved the problem. I would add
that an amorphous anodize coating also looks somewhat the same, however you didn't
mention that the coating was powdery and it sounds like the film mentioned does wipe off
without affecting the coating or dye look.

Ward Barcafer, CEF

aerospace - Wichita, Kansas
1999
publicly reply to Ward Barcafer, CEF's post ⇧

Multiple threads were merged: please forgive repetition, chronology errors, or disrespect towards other postings [they
weren't on the same page] :-)

Eliminating seal film / need for wiping on Type II Black anodize

Q. We run Type II anodize & on almost all of our black work, which is sealed in Nickel Acetate,
we need to wipe off a seal film after processing. Is everyone else doing this or is there a way to
avoid this film?

David A. Kraft
- Long Island City, New York
2001
publicly reply to David A. Kraft's post ⇧

A. We had the same recurring problem before and we suspected the seal as the culprit. I
turned out that sealing is not the only process contributing to this.

Incomplete deoxidation/desmut, high anodizing temperature, dissolved solids in sealing water

(and dye!) , were also big factors.

We switched to medium temperature NiAc seal with smut inhibitor available on the market
then corrected the other causes (we also filtered our dye). We rarely experience the same
problem since then.

Perhaps, if the sealing is the only cause of the problem in your case, why not try sealing at
shorter duration until you obtain the threshold for smutting while still passing the seal tests?

Ciraco Dipaloloco
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2001
publicly reply to Ciraco Dipaloloco's post ⇧

A. Dave,
No, this is not normal. I'm assuming you have checked all your bath parameters, and are
filtering your seal tank, but some thoughts come to mind, some things to look at would be,
 your ph is too high, your temp is too high, your nickel acetate content is too low, or perhaps the
quality of your make-up water has been compromised (I'm also assuming you use DI for make-
up). Of course.. sealing smut is an indicator of a decent seal (but a pain in the keyster to wipe
off), but one of the benefits of NA is the lack of seal smut, and still being able to pass seal
quality tests. You didn't mention what kind of NA seal you are using, we have excellent results,
and long bath life with Anodal MS1 (mid-temp seal).

Marc Green
anodizer - Boise, Idaho
2001
publicly reply to Marc Green's post ⇧

Multiple threads were merged: please forgive repetition, chronology errors, or disrespect towards other postings [they
weren't on the same page] :-)

Smut on black anodizing

Q. I am black anodizing 6061 and occasionally encounter smut problems. Are there any quick
and easy fixes besides elbow grease?

William Smith
anodizing shop - Trinity, North Carolina
2003
publicly reply to William Smith's post ⇧

A. Presuming that the smut results from nickel acetate sealing, "The Surface Treatment
strict control of pH (e.g., 5.7-5.9) and sealing time (generally, no & Finishing of Aluminium
more than the anodizing time for mid-temperature seals) will and Its Alloys"
help. Commercial anodizing seals such as "Anoseal" from Henkel by Wernick, Pinner &
contain anti-smutting additives. Sheasby and Pinner, in The Sheasby
Surface Treatment and Finishing of Aluminum and Its Alloys.
discuss additives which do not interfere with the sealing, but this on AbeBooks
is generally not do-it-yourself chemistry. They also mention that a
brief dip in a nitric acid solution will remove smut. or eBay or

Ken Vlach [deceased] Amazon

- Goleta, California
 (affil links)

Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched

responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.
Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to
benefit from.
2003
publicly reply to Ken Vlach's post ⇧

A. Generally smut on black coatings is due to:

(1) too high electrolyte temperature in sulfuric; shouldn't be over 72 °F
(2) too high solids or hard water salts, etc. in sealer - use DI water to make up; reduce drag-in
of city water and / or sulfuric from rinse preceding seal;
(3) too long, too high voltage/amp or too thick an anodize film coupled with too long in dye
(4) excessive seal time.

Been there with elbow grease and it's no fun. Worse with 2xxx alloys like 2024 and die castings
like 380. Anodically speaking, GOOD LUCK...

Milt Stevenson, Jr.

Syracuse, New York
2003
publicly reply to Milt Stevenson, Jr.'s post ⇧

A. The smut in anodising is because of the high thickness and also anodising at higher
temperature than suggested.

Many times in spite of anodising at right temperature and right thickness, smut appears on the
surface after black dye and nickel acetate sealing. This is because some dyes react with nickel
acetate and give big molecules. This results in more material than the pores can take: hence
smut.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the problem is to seal in DM water at 85 to 95 °C for about
20 to 30 minutes and then subsequently seal in Nickel acetate at 70 to 80 °C for 10 minutes.
Generally you can avoid smut. Even if it is there it is much less than earlier.

Dr. Rudresh .H.B.

- Bangalore, India
August 13, 2009
 publicly reply to Dr. Rudresh .H.B.'s post ⇧

Q. Hi,
When sealing with nickel acetate alone, a smutty deposit may form on the work.

How can we remove it in the continuous process?

Sushant Neve
- Mumbai, India
June 29, 2015
publicly reply to Sushant Neve's post ⇧

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