Exquisite products are often seen as more valuable, and consumers are more willing to pay for them, even if they are more expensive.
The so-called texture is obtained through the appearance and touch of the surface. For this feeling, the surface treatment is a very critical factor. For example, the shell of the Apple notebook computer is made of a single piece of aluminum alloy through CNC machining and then subjected to multiple surface processes such as polishing, high-gloss milling, and wire drawing so that the all-aluminum metal texture coexists with a sense of fashion and technology.
Aluminum alloys are easy to process, rich in surface treatment methods, and have good visual effects. They are widely used in notebook computers, mobile phones, portable solid-state drives PSSD, LED desk lamps, cameras, and other products. It is often combined with surface treatment processes such as polishing, wire drawing, sandblasting, high-gloss cutting, and anodizing to make the products present different textures.
1.polishing
The polishing process mainly reduces the roughness of the metal surface through mechanical polishing or chemical polishing. Still, polishing does not improve parts’ dimensional accuracy or geometric accuracy but is used to obtain a smooth surface or mirror gloss appearance.
Mechanical polishing uses sandpaper or a polishing wheel to reduce the roughness and make the metal surface smooth and bright. However, the hardness of aluminum alloy is not high, and grinding and polishing materials with coarse grains will leave deep grinding lines. If fine-grained is used, the surface is finer, but the ability to remove milling lines is greatly reduced.
Chemical polishing is an electrochemical process that can be thought of as reverse electroplating, removing a thin layer of material from the metal surface, leaving a smooth, ultra-clean surface with a uniform sheen without the fine lines that occur physical polishing.
Chemical polishing can make surgical tools easier to clean and sterilize in the medical field. In appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, using chemical polishing products, parts last longer and look brighter. Chemical polishing on critical aircraft components reduces frictional drag, making it more energy-efficient and safer.
2.sandblasting
Sandblasting is used on the surface of many electronic products so that the surface of the product presents a more subtle matte touch, similar to frosted glass. The matte material is subtle and stable, creating a low-key and durable feature of the product.
Sandblasting is the use of compressed air as power to spray materials, such as copper ore, quartz sand, emery, iron sand, sea sand, etc., onto the surface of the aluminum alloy at high speed, changing the mechanical properties of the surface of aluminum alloy parts and improving the fatigue resistance of parts. It can also increase the adhesion between the native surface of the part and the coating, which is more beneficial to the coating film’s durability and the coating’s leveling and decoration.
The sandblasting surface treatment process is the fastest and most thorough cleaning method, which can be arbitrarily selected between different roughnesses to form different roughnesses on the surface of aluminum alloy parts.
3.brushed
The drawing process is very common in product design, such as notebooks, headphones, etc. in electronic products; refrigerators, air purifiers, etc. in household products; it is also useful in automotive interiors, such as the center console of the brushed panel can improve The beauty of the car.
Scraping lines with sandpaper on the aluminum plate can clearly show every tiny silk mark, making the matte metal shine with fine hair luster, giving the product a fortitude and atmospheric beauty. According to the decoration needs, it can be made into the straight grain, random grain, swirl patterns, etc.
4.high gloss milling
The high-gloss milling process uses a precision engraving machine to cut parts and machine a local highlight area on the surface of the product. The bright and shallow straight grooves add bright color changes to the product’s surface, which is very fashionable.
In recent years, some high-end TV sets have adopted a high-gloss milling process on the metal frame, and together with anodizing and wire drawing processes, the TV set is full of fashion and technology.
5.Anodizing
In most cases, aluminum parts are not suitable for electroplating because aluminum parts are easy to form an oxide film on oxygen, which will seriously affect the bonding force of the electroplating layer, and anodizing is generally used.
Anodizing refers to the electrochemical oxidation of metals or alloys. Under specific conditions and the action of an applied current, an aluminum oxide film is formed on the part’s surface, which improves the surface hardness and surface wear resistance of the part and enhances the corrosion resistance.
In addition, through the adsorption capacity of a large number of micropores in the thin oxide film, the surface of the parts can also be colored into various beautiful and beautiful colors, which enriches the color performance of the parts and increases the aesthetics of the products.
In addition to the above five surface treatments for aluminum alloy parts, Keyanng can also provide decorative chrome plating, chrome plating, nickel plating, silver plating, gold plating, baking paint, plastic spraying, Teflon spraying, silk screen printing, laser marking, and other surface treatment processes.
