Core oxidation

[Capt. Senile]

What is the best way to oxidize cores and what is the best thing to use for oxidation?

Thanks in advance

[Pipefitter]

Time and exposure to oxygen.

[B R Shooter]

Gary Ocock, a hall of fame benchrest shooter and bullet maker, uses TSP to boil the cores in after he cleans them. The TSP will oxidize the cores.

[blltsmth]

Try some good old WHITE VINEGAR!. de-grease them and then swirl in vinegar for about 5 minutes, rinse in hot water, dry.

[Capt. Senile]

How long after rinsing in the White vinegar should I wait for the cores to oxidize? These cores went from nice and shiny to dull grey almost instantly.

[xman777]

Dichloromethane (AKA Methylene Chloride) is the bomb. Its a degreaser and you can find it at places that sell these types of chemicals. I have been using this stuff on cores for 5 years now. I work for a semiconductor based company as an Electro Chemical Engineer and we get it in here regularly to etch certain metals. The chemical is relatively inert, but can be harmful if treated inappropriately.

[blltsmth]

The time for the cores to dry is about as much time as you need. Don

[aaronraad]

Personally I only prefer to etch instead of oxide for reasons stated previously.

I currently use a heated caustic based product we use for cleaning lead anodes in our electrolytic acid pickling tanks. It's a proprietry product but it's mainly caustic based with some wetters and surfactants/chelators thrown in so as much foreign material is bound up with less risk of it being left as thin layer when the cores dry.