Powder Aluminum Polishing

Aluminum powder products offer many advantages over other metal powders due to aluminum's inherent corrosion resistance, lightweight density, machinability and non-magnetic properties. After pressing (at lower pressures than other metals) and sintering (at lower pressures) the parts needed to be deburred and prepared for surface finishing/coating or anodizing.

The parts in the picture were vibratory tumbled with a light cutting Synthetic Media to remove burrs and create a uniform, matte surface finish (2 discs on left). A second step to polish the parts (2 discs on right) also involved vibratory tumbling but with a polishing Ceramic Media. Appropriate neutral pH compounds were used to remove and prevent oxidation of the surface. Cycle times were only 1-2 hours for each step.