For most, summer is a time for vacation, barbecues, and trips to the beach. But for the metalworking industry, summer can be a season of rust and corrosion. Scrap rates can increase significantly unless operators take steps to protect their workpieces, cutting tools, and machinery.
Fortunately, summertime corrosion control is easy with a proactive approach. It just takes an understanding of which issues cause corrosion in the shop and the right strategies for preventing it.
What causes summertime corrosion?
Corrosion is a process of metal deterioration caused by chemical reactions with its surrounding environment, including oxygen. The presence of moisture on metal quickly leads to the formation of oxides, beginning a rapid change of the metal surface. The typical summer climate creates conditions especially prone to corrosion formation:
- Higher temperatures have increased humidity and moisture formation.
- Humidity and condensation collect on metal surfaces.
- Combining condensation with oxygen and environmental pollutants in the air can create rapid corrosion, impacting metal surfaces in a matter of hours.
Erik Hilden, District Sales Manager at Master Fluid Solutions, warns that summer corrosion isn’t just an issue because of the general increase in moisture in the air. “Higher levels of water evaporation in metalworking fluids during the summer months lead to increased mineral buildup in sumps where customers use basic tap water to mix metalworking fluids,” he explains. “The minerals, elements, and contaminants naturally present in unfiltered and untreated tap water can significantly increase the tendency for corrosion on parts and machine tools.”
These chemical reactions — and their effects — can be devastating to metalworkers’ part quality, tool life, machine life, and overall profitability of their operation. Apart from the visible effects of corrosion, it also significantly reduces metal strength, functionality, and lifespan.
4 Strategies for Summertime Corrosion Control and Prevention
Fortunately, corrosion protection is easy to achieve if machine operators and other stakeholders are proactive about mitigating moisture issues during the summer. These four strategies can transform part quality and eliminate scrap:
1. Improve workshop environmental controls
In shops without climate controls, keep windows open and leverage fans to improve air flow and ventilation, preventing condensation from building up. Operators should take extra care for overnight storage of workpieces. They should also leave machine doors open after operation to help improve air flow and prevent moisture buildup inside equipment.
2. Conduct regular cleaning and maintenance
Because of moisture buildup during summer, it’s especially important to maintain strict cleaning schedules to remove contaminants like bacteria and acids from any metal surfaces. These chemicals, combined with high humidity, can accelerate the onset and severity of corrosion.
3. Use corrosion inhibitors
In addition to reducing moisture buildup, operators can protect workpieces and equipment with corrosion protection fluids, either available as separate products or select in process cleaning fluids with corrosion protection built-in. Operators should upgrade to high-quality industrial cleaners like those in the Master STAGES™ line to enjoy built-in corrosion control without the need for extra anti-rust steps in their production processes.
4. Optimize cutting fluids
In many cases, simply upgrading to a higher quality cutting fluid is enough to achieve summertime (and year-round) corrosion control without any investment in environmental controls or other operational changes. What’s key is choosing a cutting fluid with a low rust-free point and ensuring it’s maintained at optimal concentrations (typically 7% to 10%) throughout operation.
Master summertime corrosion control with Master Fluid Solutions®
It’s true that minimizing humidity in the shop environment is key to preventing corrosion, but with so many potential points of failure in that effort, stakeholders need a simpler and more straightforward corrosion control strategy. Upgrading to a higher quality cutting fluid can often eliminate rust without any other changes, making it both the most effective and low-cost solution available.
Corrosion control has become a central feature to most new products in Master Fluid Solutions’ signature TRIM® cutting fluid line. “[We’re] always innovating, and recognize scrapped parts from corrosion as one of the biggest issues facing our end users and their customers,” says Hilden. “That’s why so many of our latest generation TRIM products have such a low rust-free point and highlight corrosion control as a main feature.”
Customers seeking the most advanced corrosion protection will be interested in TRIM MicroSol® semisynthetic microemulsion coolants. Newer products like TRIM E715 feature superior corrosion control properties, on top of high lubricity and excellent cooling ability. If you’re struggling with corrosion and want to try any of these products in your shop, schedule a site visit for a free trial.
