Chemical Exosure and CerMark

[Liesl Dexheimer]

I have a potential customer who would like stainless steel tags engraved but the problem is these tags will be exposed to harsh chemicals (sodium hydroxide). Does anyone know if CerMark hold up to this chemical?

[Kev Williams]

not much of anything holds up to lye!

You can test it out:
pick up some Castrol Superclean or HD Purple Power, they contain lye, and a can of EZoff oven cleaner, which is loaded with it...

Get a small piece of SS and laser some Cermark on it-

You need something to soak in, a shallow glass dish or bowl should work; you need as much EZoff as you can get into the bowl (mask and rubber gloves recommended), then add some purple to it for good measure...

Now put the engraved SS piece in and let it soak overnight, then see what you get the next day.

I know this much, floating anodized aluminum in that mixture is definitely interesting!

[Bill George]

I have a potential customer who would like stainless steel tags engraved but the problem is these tags will be exposed to harsh chemicals (sodium hydroxide). Does anyone know if CerMark hold up to this chemical?

If you had fiber laser, they could be marked without Cermark or anything. It would last as long as the stainless lasted.

[John Lifer]

And since stainless, could do anneal to darken.....
just say'n

[Kev Williams]

Here you go, found this Cermark test list as provided by Ferro:


Physical Testing of LMM-6000 Laser Marks








Laser marks were made on type 304 stainless steel tags using LMM-6000 and a CO2 Laser.





Marks were made at settings of 100% power, 12% speed, 500 DPI on a


35 watt Universal Laser.







Tags were totally immersed in the test solutions.









Exposure Time










Organic Solvents

1 Hour
12 Hours
24 Hours
1 Week


Gasoline

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Limonene

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Methyl Ethyl Ketone

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


N-Butanol

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Mineral Spirits

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Xylene

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Acetone

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Propylene Carbonate

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Ethanol

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


DMSO

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Motor Oil

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect











Acid/Bases



Hydrochloric Acid 35%

No effect
No effect
Test stopped - see notes


Nitric Acid 68%

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Sulfuric Acid (conc.)

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Acetic Acid 99.5%

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Hydrogrn Peroxide 30%

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Sodium Hydroxide 25%


No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect


Ammonium Hydroxide 20%

No effect
No effect
No effect
No effect










Other



Boiling H2O

Marks soaked in boiling water for 1 hr. - no effect


LN2 (Cold)

Marks dipped in liquid nitrogen - no effect


Flame (Hot)

Marks heated in a propane flame until cherry red - metal



discolors, no effect on mark.


Hot/Cold Cycling

Marks heated red hot and immediately plunged in liquid nitrogen



- metal discolors, no effect on mark








Notes:






Hydrochloric acid testing:

- Acid dissolves the steel tag and was not run over 12 hrs. long



- After 1 hr. acid dissolved 0.2767 gms off of steel tag (4.7%),



laser mark was unaffected.



- After 12 hrs. acid dissolved 1.8057 gms off of steel tag (30.6%),



laser mark was unaffected, now having a distinctly raised feel.





Sulfuric acid testing:

- Acid discolors at approximately 96 hrs., mark appears to be



slightly discolored.






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[Liesl Dexheimer]

Thank you for the testing info Kev. That's great for future reference! Even if I could have used stainless and CerMark my potential customer had too low of a qty for id Plates to custom fabricate the order.

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks for that great chart. The thing they omitted was hitting it with an angle grinder- it's prety resistant to that for a bit, too!