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Black Oxide Coating: Advantages, Limitations, and Custom Solutions
Our black oxide stainless steel fasteners feature enhanced corrosion resistance and a sleek black finish ideal for demanding automotive to firearms applications requiring durability and aesthetics. These military-grade fasteners meet stringent specifications for long-lasting, distinctive performance.
Not sure what material you need? Check out our Material Guide to find the right material for your needs!
What is a Black Oxide?
Black Oxide, also known as blackening, is a transformative chemical process that elevates stainless steel fasteners to a new level. By applying a black oxide coating, we not only achieve a sleek, jet-black appearance but also imbue these fasteners with a mild yet effective layer of corrosion and abrasion resistance. For ultimate corrosion protection, we offer the choice of wax or oil sealing, providing an additional shield without compromising performance. This process, often likened to gun bluing, involves immersing the fasteners into a black oxide bath, where the chemical alchemy converts the surface into magnetite
Discover the superior performance and style of Black Oxide Stainless Steel Nuts, Bolts, and Washers – where the enduring stainless steel meets the transformative power of black oxide.
Materials Suited for Black Oxide Treatment:
- Stainless Steel: Enhanced durability and a sleek appearance.
- Copper: Achieve corrosion resistance while preserving the material's conductivity.
- Copper-Based Alloys: Ideal for maintaining alloy properties while adding corrosion resistance.
- Zinc: Corrosion protection with an attractive black finish.
- Powdered Metals: Enhance the wear resistance and longevity of powdered metal components.
- Silver Solder: Combining corrosion resistance with an appealing black appearance.
- Brass: Adding a layer of corrosion resistance and a stylish black finish to brass materials.
What is The Black Oxide Processes?
Achieving the striking black oxide finish can be accomplished through various methods, each offering unique advantages. Let's delve into the three primary techniques:
- Hot Bath Process: This method involves immersing fasteners in a series of chemical solutions, transforming the surface into magnetite. After the dipping process, a protective layer of oil is applied, enhancing corrosion resistance. Our hot bath black oxide treatment adheres to stringent standards such as MIL-DTL-13924, AMS 2485, ASTM D769, and ISO 11408.
- Cold Coating: At room temperature, a compound (copper selenium) is applied to fasteners. This in-house-friendly process eliminates the need for high-temperature chemicals. While initially less robust, applying a layer of oil or wax can bolster its durability.
- Mid-Temperature Bath: Similar to the hot bath method, this approach converts the surface to magnetite but operates at lower temperatures, minimizing toxic fumes. Remarkably, it meets the same rigorous military standards as the hot bath process.
Unlock the potential of these black oxide processes to enhance the appearance and performance of your fasteners.
Benefits Of Black Oxide Fasteners
Black oxide fasteners bring a wealth of benefits to the table, making them a preferred choice for various applications:
- Minimal Dimensional Change: Unlike hot dip galvanizing, black oxide treatment has a minimal impact on fastener dimensions, ensuring precision and reliability.
- Cost-Efficient: Offering a cost-effective alternative to methods like electroplating, black oxide is budget-friendly without compromising quality.
- Aesthetic Appeal: Perfect for situations where a bright shine is undesirable, black oxide fasteners deliver an appealing, sleek black finish.
- High Efficiency: The process is easily scalable, enabling cost-effective treatment of large quantities and making it an excellent choice for smaller sizes.
- Enhanced Functionality: Black oxide treatment reduces the risk of galling by applying a protective oil finish, ensuring smoother performance.
- Decorative Finish: Beyond functionality, it provides a decorative touch, enhancing the visual appeal of fasteners.
- Corrosion and Abrasion Resistance: Black oxide adds a mild layer of corrosion and abrasion resistance, extending the lifespan of fasteners.
- Excellent Paint Adhesion: If painting is required, the black coating offers exceptional adhesion, ensuring a lasting and vibrant finish.
Discover the versatility and value of black oxide fasteners for your projects.
Will Black Oxide Bolts Rust?
Black oxide treatment imparts a valuable layer of corrosion and abrasion resistance to fasteners. However, it's important to recognize that, like any material, black oxide-treated bolts can potentially rust under specific circumstances. The likelihood of rust formation hinges on factors such as the fastener's condition, the underlying metal type, and prevailing environmental conditions.
the Limitations of Black Oxide
While black oxide offers certain advantages, it's essential to be aware of its limitations:
- Limited Corrosion Resistance: Compared to some alternative corrosion-resistant options, black oxide falls short in terms of overall corrosion resistance.
- Susceptible to Abrasion: The black oxide finish can be susceptible to abrasion, potentially wearing off with use. To mitigate this, applying painters tape to the bit tip for a snug fit can help prevent scratching during operation.
- Residue Concerns: Black oxide fasteners may release black residue, requiring wiping before use in specific applications. This additional step can be labor-intensive when dealing with a large quantity of fasteners.
- Heat Sensitivity: While black oxide fasteners are popular in the automotive industry for their sleek appearance, they may deteriorate rapidly in high-temperature environments. After black oxide treatment, fasteners are often immersed in an oil bath for added protection. However, in hot conditions, the oil residue can turn brown, giving the appearance of premature rusting. Therefore, it's advisable to avoid placing black oxide bolts on or near engines or in high-heat areas.
Understanding these drawbacks can help you make informed decisions regarding the use of black oxide fasteners in various applications.
Custom Black Oxide Coating Solutions: Your Fasteners, Your Way
Looking for a personalized black oxide coating that perfectly suits your needs? At our company, we offer custom black oxide options available through phone orders. If you can't find the exact solution you require in black oxide, simply reach out to us at 866-573-445 for pricing and availability. We're here to deliver the tailored coating you need.
Black Oxide : Watch and Learn - Helpful Videos
Understanding the Black Oxide Process | Fasteners 101
Transcript
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Bob: Hey, welcome back to Albany County Fasteners - Fasteners 101. I'm Bob and today we're going to talk about the black oxide process. So let's get started.
Black Oxide. What is it? Black oxide is a conversion coating formed by an alkaline-salt solution. There are two processes in black oxide: you have a hot process and a cold process. The cold process does not meet government or mil-spec (military specifications) and will have color variations.
Black Oxide Process:
There are four different classes with black oxide. Black oxy has classes 1 through 4. The typical ones being used are classes 1 and 4, for fasteners. Class 1 basically runs between 285 degrees and 290 degrees as the process is baked. Class 4, which is for stainless steel, is a 250-degree process.
So what I have here presently right now are fasteners that had been black oxidized from stainless. These are all stainless parts that have been sent out and had the black oxide process applied. Some of these parts have different finishes, as far as how dark in pigment they are versus others.
The flat washers as you can see here have some minor scratches or imperfections and washers are not always going to be totally one hundred percent black. You can see some variations in some of them. Some will be purely black. I've seen them both ways. Sometimes we send them back for reprocessing. It's just the nature of the process that you have to deal with, like this socket cap screw which I've seen this time and time again, I have two here: I have a larger one and a smaller one. The smaller one is a little darker than the larger one. The larger ones almost have more like a pigmented gun finish. With that process you can have different patinas on them. It's all a matter of how they process and how long they put it through the process to complete it. For some of these, the typical process for black oxide is: rinse, black oxidize, rinse again, finish coat. That's the typical finish. We stock a lot of black oxide products.
Black Oxide Products:
A couple of products here that can be done, that we don't have here presently, are nylon lock nuts. They have a nylon part in those and they need to be protected before they go through the process so it does not change the physical condition of the nylon so it locks the nut in place. I want to go through the five basic steps for black oxide which are clean, rinse, black oxidize, rinse again, supplementary finish. The supplementary finish is what protects the black oxide for a long, long time. The coatings are oil, wax, paint, or lacquer. So dependent upon your condition and what you're applying this to, that will change how you finish your black oxide.
So this particular one, this button head, has wax on it. This was put in wax, spun, and finished. The typical process for black oxide is black oxidize and then oil, spun off. That is the typical when someone does not specify. So oil finish will give you a glossy finish. Wax finish will give you a matte finish. Paint or lacquer will give you a satin finish or a glossy finish dependent upon what you specify. It all depends on what you want your black oxide to be.
We can send your product out if you want us to and have it done to your specifications. Black oxide on stainless will yield excellent corrosion protection primarily due to their inherited properties. So when you black oxidize stainless chances are it's going to be more resistant to corrosion. Now keep in mind that a black oxide finish with oil in a saltwater condition will eventually show some type of rust. Same thing if you put black oxide on your car or your truck and you drive the vehicle in salt on the streets, you will see corrosion on the fasteners. So you're going to want to coat your black oxide accordingly, and that's really what it comes down to.
We have a customer who sells his product that he puts our fasteners into and with those fasteners he first has them black oxidized. He then sends them out to be painted black and then he lacquers it. So, when it goes into a saltwater environment he will not experience, or his customer will not experience, any rust. Or another way to prevent rust would be to black oxidize 316 stainless. That should, you know, finish it but 316 is very expensive, it's not cheap, so you have to pay for that. As far as hot and cold finish go, these are all parts done in hot black oxy.
Cold finish, how you can tell is, cold will start to rub off. You can take your hand and you can rub it and the black oxide will rub off. This will not rub off (Hot Process Black Oxy).
So the hot process is the best process. Cold process will chip, it will scrape, you will have issues as far as black oxide goes in a cold finish. Colors will change if you're using black oxide and a 900 degree or higher environment. So if you're going to put the black oxide parts into nine hundred, one thousand degrees, you're going to see variations in the color happen as it's in that environment. If you're going to have your parts black oxied and your parts are rusty or scaling, you will need to have the parts clean before they can be black oxidized. In other words it would have to go into an acid pickle to clean the parts and then rinse them back off again and then go through the process of black oxide.
Plated parts such as alloy with zinc plating on it or alloy with hot-dip galvanized plating; all those plating's would have to be removed prior to black oxying. Black oxide only works on alloy or stainless steel products that are free of any other foreign products on it. So no oils, no grease, no plating's, it's got to be clean parts.
Plating can be done directly to alloy parts or stainless steel parts series 18-8, 300, and 400 series. Anything other than that, a 316 or other special stainless's, will require to be reviewed for how dark you're plating will be as far as-or your black oxide process will be.
Welding black oxide does not produce noxious fumes or hamper the ease which parts can be welded. So in closing of black oxide, this is a process that many gun dealers, knife, and car products use this type of hardware in their applications. It's an awesome look; people love it.
We stock loads of this stuff and we also send out custom orders for processing.
There you go. Today you learned about the black oxide process; the cold and hot process.
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