Cleaning Sea-Salt From Metal Fasteners

• Ultrasonic bath?
• Heat the water up?
• "Brillo" pad <usual disclaimer>?

It would help to know which metal!

If it was salt, it would have dissolved. What you are probably looking at is oxidation/corrosion resulting from salt exposure.

Best method is replacement with plastic or maybe brass fasteners.

Hastelloy would be a better choice.

Never heard of it. I just googled it, sounds like good stuff. Back in the old days, it was brass.

Hastelloy is a P&W proprietary metal but a better choice (and less expensive) would be stainless steel or titanium fasteners but i wouldn't try either one until i knew what other materials were involved. Air Force Manual TO 1-1-691 (or NAVAIR equivalent) is a good place to start for loosening the fastener and corrosion control. was the water distilled or deionized first? in either case if you can heat the area with a heat gun or some other heat source the differential expansion may break it free enough to start it out. then there is always the trusted old standby... drill & tap.

As usual, a lack of any type of detail in the OP, just leads to guessing games.

Specific questions generally lead to specific answers.

Sea salt aint the prblem, it is the corrosion product aided and abetted by the sea salt whats guilty.

Soak in penetraing oil, heat up to cherry red and quench, hit with hammer, hit with bigger hammer, split the nuts. (A hammer and chisel is the ultimate universal one size fits all spanner).

If they are steel, torch them off; if not follow post #3.

you may dip it in light acids (H2SO4 or HCL) to remove

Thank you all - will try and if successful will report. I understand the problem is the corrosion of the metal.

I am guessing that you are using the fasteners in an offshore application? If sea water is involved then i would stay away from steel and aluminium. The best material would be stainless steel, preferably 304 grade or if it is fully submerged into the salt water then 316 grade is the best choice as 304 does tarnish over time. Other options would include brass, marine grade would reduce the ammount of oxidisation that would eventually appear on the surface or if money is no object then titanium would be a good one however you had best have deep pockets.

If you do want to clean up the items then an ultrasonic bath is the simplest method using a bi-ox solution.

When I was in the navy we used something called Brasso which worked quite well with a "greeny pad", (naturally this was on brass)

I remember Brasso and belt buckles among other things all too well!

Whatever be the post-situation method, everyone is a corrective issue, it´s mean the damage is done. The best aproximation for the most long life should be a preventive protection coating in combination with a superior choosing of steel alloys such a Cr/Ni & Mo around ASTM A-297. We´ve had applications in a very severe atmospheres with HCl surrounding and this method could help.

if the fasteners are already corroded then you really should replace them because the damage is done. shoot the hole or surface with CPC and install a CRES, titanium or Cad plated fastener although the last i'd try to avoid because cad plating can react poorly with other materials (causes hydrogen embrittlement in titanium). also it is sacrificial and will have to be replaced in time anyways. corrosion prevention is the phase you should be in so if you can clean the area thuroughly and coat it after installation (or during if that applies) then you won't have to fight this again.