The stainless steel mirror sheet is a very common metal decoration material, and we can often see it in public places or large entertainment facilities. At the same time, with people’s pursuit of high-quality life, the amount of stainless steel used in daily household life is increasing, and the requirements for its quality are also increasing.
On the other hand, in recent years, the stainless steel trade has to some extent moved closer from the pure stainless steel trade to providing customers with trade processing and distribution services; more and more traders directly provide customers with stainless steel mirror products.
However, the stainless steel mirror products processed and sold on the market are different due to various reasons, and the effects of processing into mirrors are uneven. Often makes customers “confused”. So, what is the cause of such “chaos”? How to define the “standard” of stainless steel mirror panels? The author talks about their personal experience with a practitioner who has been engaged in stainless steel mirror processing for many years.
1. What is a Stainless Steel Mirror Sheet?
Stainless mirror sheets are commonly known as “8K”. The “8” in “8K” refers to the proportion of alloy components (304 stainless steel mainly refers to the content of nickel), and “K” refers to the reflectance achieved after polishing The grade (K grade is the specular reflection grade). 8K mirror is the mirror grade embodied in chromium-nickel alloy steel.
Common mirror stainless steels have been extended to 6K, 10K, 12K, etc. due to the difference in the degree of fineness required by customers, and are “defined” as the larger the number, the higher the fineness of the mirror surface. 6K refers to a coarsely ground and polished mirror panel, which has a slightly worse effect than a mirror; 10K refers to a finely ground and polished mirror sheet, which is comparable to ordinary mirrors; and 12K refers to an ultra-fine grinding and polished mirror sheet that can meet optical applications.
2. How is the Stainless Steel Mirror Plate Processed?
Normally, the stainless steel on the BA surface that has been brightly annealed and the 2B surface of the passivation treated is processed to remove the oxide layer on the surface of the stainless steel, revealing the original bright and clean “natural color” of the metal, which can be called a mirror surface.
At present, stainless steel processing mirrors mainly use three methods: electrolytic polishing, chemical polishing, and mechanical grinding and polishing; although the first two methods are effective, they are costly and inefficient. Although the effect of mechanical grinding and polishing is slightly worse than the previous two methods, it’s convenience and high efficiency have become the first choice for stainless steel mirror processing.
3. How to Correctly Identify and Apply the Grade of Stainless Steel Mirror Sheet?
a. Fast and Bright:
This type of stainless steel mirror sheet is an ordinary mirror with an effect between BA and 8K. It mainly has the following characteristics:
The degree of base material selectivity is not high, 200 series, 300 series, and 400 series stainless steel products, regardless of the initial surface (2B, 2D, BA, No. 1) can be used as the target of the base material selection. Due to its universal material selection and relatively low processing requirements, there are no too strict requirements for the selection of base materials, and its processing speed is relatively fast.
Although the mirror effect is bright and shining, the mirror effect is general, and some defects (sand holes, orange peel, color difference, etc.) of the base material cannot be effectively removed after processing.
This kind of product is mainly used in kitchen and bathroom equipment with low mirror surface requirements, power equipment protective covers, public facilities, generally stainless steel decorations, and accessories that require a mirror effect inside the product.
b. Fast and Good:
This kind of stainless steel mirror sheet is a real 8K mirror, and mainly has the following characteristics:
There are also certain requirements for the initial surface of the base material (mainly choose BA or 2B surface). Therefore, the choice of the origin of the base material to a large extent guarantees the quality of its later processing, and the choice of major brands (Baoxin, TISCO Tianguan, Jiuquan Steel, Zhangpu, and Lianzhong, etc.) is mainly recommended.
The mirror effect is bright and shining, and the mirror effect is outstanding. Due to certain requirements for the choice of base material, the defects of the mirror plate after mirror processing are less and not obvious; at the same time, it also greatly improves the processing efficiency and reduces The difficulty of processing.
Such products are mainly used in stainless steel mirror plates with standard mirror surface requirements, as well as various stainless steel decoration materials that require mirror surfaces as substrates (such as decoration and decoration of large-scale high-end places, elevator cars, high-grade metal curtain wall facades, and various types of Door and window decoration, etc.).
c. Good and Bright:
This kind of stainless steel mirror sheet is between 8K~12K mirror surface requirements, and mainly has the following characteristics:
Not only have certain requirements for the initial surface selection of the base material (basically choose the BA surface), but also have to select the product selection (recommend the use of BA and 2B materials of Baoxin, Taiyuan Iron, and Steel Sky Tube), and also its products The sub-use of the product should be carefully selected (generally, ordinary grinding and fine grinding stainless steel materials of major brands are selected as substrates for processing).
The mirror effect shines brightly, but it is not dazzling; due to the strict requirements on the flatness of the plate, the three-dimensional feeling of the mirror effect is guaranteed to the greatest extent. In addition, the degree of surface defects (sand holes, orange peel, color difference, etc.) of such products after processing is calculated per square decimeter to judge whether they are qualified products.
At the same time, to ensure the mirror effect after processing, there are relatively high requirements for processing personnel and equipment, and the processing efficiency will be relatively slow. On the one hand, it may need to be repeated multiple times to achieve the required effect; on the other hand, the person must have certain experience in the selection of plates before processing and the solutions to problems after processing.
Such products are mainly used for personalized decoration of luxury and high-end (usually super five-star hotels) public or entertainment places, as well as various decorative boards with mirror plates as substrates; personalized products, various optical or chemical products Accessories (optical reference or reflection auxiliary board, the inner wall of precision chemical pipe); sanitary products of medicine and food (reflection board of surgical lamp, various small medical appliances; food fermentation or storage utensils, etc.).