Espanol
FrançaiseHandbook Page 12
THE BASIC EQUIPMENT
Electrolytes (Marking Solutions)
The electrolyte or marking solution required depends on the alloy of material to be marked or etched. There are general purpose electrolytes for most products. For specific applications, however, it is best to send samples of the part to be marked to the manufacturer for his recommendations. Selection of the proper electrolyte is very important.
Using an incorrect electrolyte can produce a mark with an unstable oxide - which can be rubbed off after the mark is made. Most electrolytes cause an excess of oxides and thus clog the stencils, giving poor marks and short stencil life. Therefore, on production runs particularly, it is imperative to use the self-cleaning electrolytes, which stop stencil clogging by controlling the amount of oxides created. These self-cleaning electrolytes are identified with "SC" in the part number.
In most catalogs, there is a list of the more popular electrolytes. These electrolytes do about ninety percent of the jobs. However, there are more than one hundred electrolytes available and we would be happy to test as many electrolytes as needed on a sample part.