This article will provide a detailed guide for companies and businesses to help them “how to polish stainless steel to mirror finish”. We’ll cover the tools and materials you’ll need, detailed procedures, safety tips, and tips and tricks for caring for and cleaning polished stainless steel surfaces. Through this article, readers will master the right techniques and tools to enhance the appearance and value of products.
What is Mirror Finish Stainless Steel?
Stainless mirror 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.
Mirror stainless steel refers to the highly polished and surface-treated stainless steel, which has very high reflection ability and smoothness, and can achieve an effect similar to a mirror. We also call it the NO.8 surface. This surface treatment is usually done by grinding and polishing the stainless steel surface multiple times to remove all blemishes and oxide layers and form a very smooth fine grain on the surface.
Mirror Finish
Mirror stainless steel is usually used in high-end construction, interior decoration, kitchen utensils, and automobiles to enhance the appearance and texture of products.
How to Polish Stainless Steel to a Mirror Finish
How to polish stainless steel into a mirror finish? There are several techniques and steps to achieve the No. 8 mirror effect.
Please watch the video below, you can better understand how to polish stainless steel to the mirror surface in our Huaxiao Metal, and the production process of our mirror stainless steel plate.
Preparation of Stainless Steel Plate:
First, a flat stainless steel plate needs to be prepared. Commonly used stainless steel materials include 304, 316, 430, etc., and its composition is mainly composed of chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and other metals.
Usually, we prepare stainless steel plates with cold-rolled or BA surfaces. If customers have special needs, we will use hot-rolled stainless steel plates to directly polish them into mirror-finish stainless steel plates.
Surface Treatment:
After cutting, grinding, deburring, and other processes, the surface of the stainless steel plate is treated to be flat, smooth, and scratch-free for subsequent precision processing.
Polishing:
use mechanical or chemical methods to polish stainless steel plates. Mechanical polishing usually uses equipment such as grinders and polishing machines and grinds through grinding wheels of different particle sizes to gradually achieve a mirror effect. Chemical polishing requires the use of chemical agents, and the use of chemical reactions for surface treatment can also achieve similar effects.
How to Polish Stainless Steel to a Mirror Finish
Cleaning:
After polishing, the board needs to be cleaned to remove surface stains, grease, and other impurities.
Packaging:
Finally, the mirror stainless steel plate is packaged to protect the surface from being smooth and scratch-free and to facilitate transportation and use.
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.).
Reference Standards for Mirror Stainless Steel
Types | Ordinary Mirror | Ordinary Fine Grinding | Elevator Mirror | Advanced Mirror | Super Mirror | Template Mirror |
Description |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Raw Material Requirements | Any steel mill material can be | Any steel mill material can be | The raw material must be mirror material (Zhangpu, Tianguan, Yongjin) | The raw material must be mirror material (Zhangpu, Tianguan, Yongjin) | The raw material must be mirror material (Zhangpu, Tianguan, Yongjin) | The raw materials are Taigang and Zhangpu |
Glossiness GU | ≧590 | GU≧605 | GU≧605 | GU≧620 | GU≧630 | GU≧630 |
Clarity | It is clear to see, and in special cases it may be a little whitish (such as 201’s 2-3 mm, or when the base material is not good) | It is clear to see | See very clearly | See very clearly | It’s super clear like a mirror | It’s super clear like a mirror |
Grinding Head Pattern | No special requirements | Less than 5 grinding head patterns are allowed on the four corners and less than 5 grinding head patterns in other areas | Less than 5 grinding head patterns are allowed on the four corners, and no grinding head patterns are allowed in other areas | 3-4 grinding head patterns are allowed. | 1-2 grinding head patterns are allowed. | No grinding head pattern |
Dust inclusion (oxidation line) | No special requirements | No special requirements | Dust inclusions are allowed (less than 5 cm in length) | Dust inclusions are allowed (less than 5 cm in length) | Dust inclusions (less than 2 cm in length) are allowed (≤5 pieces/㎡ | Individual inclusions within 2 cm in length are allowed (≤ 1/㎡ |
Concave and convex points | Allow a small amount | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
Roller Stop Mark | Allow a small amount | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
Pits on the Surface | A small amount is allowed (circled on the membrane) | |||||
Blu-Ray | No special requirements | No special requirements | No special requirements | The blue light is relatively mild under the light in the workshop. | The blue light is relatively mild under the light in the workshop. | The blue light is relatively mild under the light in the workshop. |
Double-Sided Mirror |
| |||||