Acid Cleaning & Pickling

Acid cleaning and pickling chemistries remove mill scale, oxide, rust, weld heat tint, and inorganic soils from metal surfaces during fabrication and finishing. RawSource sources the mineral and organic acids, fluoride pickling agents, and corrosion inhibitors used across pickling, descaling, derusting, and acid passivation — in drums, totes, and container quantities, matched to your substrate, process, and specification.

The right acid depends on the metal and the operation. Hydrochloric and sulfuric acid are the workhorse pickling acids for carbon and low-alloy steel, dissolving mill scale and rust ahead of galvanizing, cold rolling, or coating. Stainless steel is pickled with nitric–hydrofluoric acid baths to strip oxide scale and weld heat tint, and passivated with nitric or citric acid (for example, per ASTM A967 / AMS 2700) to restore the passive chromium-oxide film. Phosphoric acid cleans and derusts steel and deposits an iron-phosphate conversion layer for pre-paint pretreatment. Oxalic, sulfamic, glycolic, and formic acids handle rust, scale, and clean-in-place (CIP) descaling of boilers and heat exchangers where a chloride-free or lower-fume chemistry is preferred.

Fluoride chemistry and bath additives round out the line. Ammonium bifluoride is a solid, easier-handling source of fluoride for pickling and descaling stainless steel, titanium, and aluminum, and serves as the fluoride component of nitric–hydrofluoric pickle baths. Because a strong acid attacks the base metal as well as the scale, pickling and acidizing baths are typically run with a corrosion inhibitor: propargyl alcohol is the classic acetylenic inhibitor that films onto steel in hot hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, and thiourea and its derivatives are long-established pickling inhibitors — both dosed at low levels to suppress base-metal loss and hydrogen uptake while the acid continues to remove scale.

All grades are supplied for industrial and professional use only. Acid cleaning chemistries are corrosive and require appropriate engineering controls, personal protective equipment, and neutralization and waste-handling procedures. Always consult the current Safety Data Sheet (SDS), and confirm material compatibility, dilution, and regulatory status for your process and jurisdiction before use.