Electrolytic colouring of stainless steels

There is an increasing demand for coloured stainless steels which combine the advantages of conventional steels with beautiful surface finish, texture and stylishness. Of the various methods used for colouring stainless steels, chemical method called the International Nickel Co.(INCO) method and an Electrolytic Method called Alternating Current Electrolysing (AEC) method have gained popularity and are being used commercially. Preparation of stainless steel surface is very important for the appearance of coloured stainless steel. The scope of application of coloured stainless steels is very diverse, Corrosion resistance of coloured stainless steels, as measured by pitting potential and the salt spray, has been found to be better than non-coloured stainless steel. The hardness and the film adhesion is excellent. The paper gives in brief the ACE method along with results carried out on electrolytically coloured stainless steel