I might be corrected, but typically aluminum corrosion only affects the
surface and I have not seen it be bad enough to cause structural issues. It
should not effect the heat treatment.
Send a pic? I probably wouldn't bother unless you are concerned about
contamination control.
Also, an easy way to avoid corrosion is conversion coating. It has
effectively no build up. It is not terribly expensive, and you can also get
felt pens to apply it yourself.
For any amateur, I would suggest MIL-DTL-5541 Type II (non-toxic) In Class
1 for parts that need to be electrically conductive, and class 3 for parts
that do not.
Thanks,
Lars Osborne
On Sat, Jul 22, 2017 at 7:44 PM, Robert Watzlavick <rocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I forgot to empty the water out of some my aluminum parts after a cold
test and now there is white/gray corrosion on portions of the parts. A
stainless steel wire brush worked for the areas I could get to but I was
thinking of using a chemical etch to get to the inaccessible areas.
MIL-C-38834 is recommended but it's just 35-45% phosphoric acid and
deionized water. Klean-Strip Phosphoric Prep and Etch appears to be
readily available. Any suggestions? Also, what does light corrosion do to
the heat transfer properties of aluminum? Do I even need to bother?
Thanks,
-Bob
