Pickling Stainless Steel

Pickling is used to remove the decoloration on stainless steels of any grade caused by oxidation. I do not know which grade is j4?

Normally, for removing a thin layer of discoloration, 25% HNO3 (Nitric Acid) solution can be used. The solution has to be rubbed on the surface by S.S. wire brush taking care to use safety goggles mask and gloves for safety. But if the oxidation is very thick such as caused by hot forging this may take much more time. Hence a bath of 10% HF (Hydro fluroic acid) + 20% HNO3 solution can be used where the pieces are dipped and kept until decoloration is removed. This may take a few hours. The tank for the bath must also be S.S. and must be emptied soon after the operation as otherwise HF will corrode the tank. In all cases the parts must be washed with clean water containing low chloride (< 30 ppm) immediately after pickling.

Normally on cookware they use vinegar. It might work on other types of stainless steels also. Just try and see!

Otherwise you'd have to follow the first commentator's advise.

J4 is a grade of chrome manganese steel produced by Jindal Stainless and I would suggest you contact the technical department of Jindal Stainless in India - you could go via their web site. These grades will use a slightly different mix compared to other grades.

Dear Friend,

Here in our company also we do pickling process for our components which are further sent for Surface treatment process.I hope the purpose of this pickling process is to activate the surface for further surface treatment.In this case there are solutions commercially available for pickling. Finally it depends on the purpose of the pickling.

You need more info please write to me .