The brushing finish process is a surface treatment method that uses abrasive material to form lines on the surface of metal parts to achieve distinctive textured appearance.

Brushing treatment can give the metal surface a non-mirror metallic luster, which has a very strong decorative effect like silk satin. it become more and more popular in our daily life.

Brushing

How does brushing finish work?

The brushing finish process mainly uses traction force to plastically deform the metal surface without breaking. During the brushing process, the metal material gradually becomes thinner, and finally forms a filament or tube of the required thickness and length.

Types of the brushed finish patterns

Straight grain brushed finish

Straight grain Brushed finish is to use mechanical friction to process straight lines on the surface of the metal sheet. It can brush away scratches on the surface of metal seet and decorate the surface of metal sheet. There are two types of straight grain brushing pattern: continuous silk pattern and intermittent silk pattern.

Continuous silk pattern: it is obtained by continuously rubbing horizontally and linearly on the surface of metal sheet with a stainless steel brush.

Intermittent silk pattern: it is processed on brushing machines. the metal sheet pass through the two sets of rollers to get brushed.

  • Brushing(1)

thread brushed finish

The thread brushed finish process uses a small motor with a circular felt on the shaft and the rotation of the felt to create thread patterns of consistent width on the surface of the metal sheet.

thread brushing-finishing

Corrugated brushed finish

Corrugated brushed finish are generally made on a brushing machine or a graining machine. The axial movement of the upper set of grinding rollers is used to grind the surface of the metal sheet to obtain a wavy pattern.

Random brushed finish

Random brushed finish is an irregular, matte silk pattern without obvious lines obtained by rubbing the metal sheet back and forth, left and right under a high-speed running copper wire brush. This kind of processing has high requirements on the surface of metal sheet.

Spin brushed finish

The Spin brushed finish is a silk pattern obtained by rotating and polishing the surface of metal sheet by using a cylindrical felt or a grinding nylon wheel mounted on a drilling machine, mixing polishing paste with kerosene. It is mostly used for decorative processing of circular signs and small decorative dials.

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What material can be brushed?

The brushing finish process is often used for metal parts such as stainless steel and Aluminum, copper. Stainless steel 304, 316, 312 and Aluminum alloys are the most common used metal materials for brushing finish. Actually, plastic and rubber materials can aslo be used for this process.

Standard Brushes For Brushing Finish

Two major brushes are widely use in the brushing finish process to manufacture metal parts, especially in CNC metal machining industry.

Steel Wire Brushes

Steel wire brushed is popular becasue they do not change metal parts dimension. it can create differnt types of brushed finish pattern on the matal part surface. the wire tips of these brushes are made of steel and won’t clog up with debris during use.

steel wire brush

Power Brushes

Power Brushes are made of ferrous and non-ferrous wires, carbon steel and natural and synthetic fibers. they are widely use in the brushing finish operations. manufacturers choose different types of power brushed according to metal surface, condition, filament filling and trim length.

Advantages of brushing finish

improve part durability

the brushing finish can protect the metal parts surface against wear and tear which could be casued by handling and transportation. it also could make the surface of metal part become more corrosion resistant so that improve metal parts durability.

Enhances part aesthetic

The main reason of people want brushing finished parts is they have a great textured appearance which looks like special when compare with other parts. and meanwhile, brushing finish help to hide scratches, dents, and marks of a machined metal parts.

Disadvantage of brushing finish

  • Brushing finish process will cause material loss with a rate ranging from 10% and 15%, which will lead to an increase in material costs and reduce production efficiency.
  • The brushing finished surface quality is not stable becasue it is affect by too much factors during the operations, crack and deformation may happend.

Applications of brushing finish

Home decoration

The brushing finish process can be used in various home decorations such as door handles, handles, wall cabinets, etc. The brushing finish can make the parts look more elegant.

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electronic product

In the manufacturing of electronic products, the brushing finish process is also often used. For example, products such as mobile phone cases and laptop cases use brushing finish technology to increase the aesthetic of the product.

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Automotive components

The brushing finish process is also widely used In automobile parts. For example, car wheels, door handles, windshield frames and other products all use brushing finish technology to achieve texture effects.

Tips for brushing process

  • The processing range of brushing finish machine is generally not greater than 1000mm, and the applicable minimum metal thickness is 0.5mm.
  • The brushed surface of the workpiece cannot have any convex parts, otherwise, the convex parts will be flattened.
  • Brushing finish should be done before other treatment like electroplating, becasue it will break these treatment.
  • It is better to control the grinding amount within 0.05 – 0.1mm on one side.

Finishing Service At KUSLA

Although brushing finish is a common process now during the manufacturing of metal pars, it still requires techniques to manage it with a high quality. KUSLA has already done lots of metal parts with different type of brushed finish pattern. and we also provide various surface finishing service for your project. contact us to get more information about that.

FAQs about Brushing finish

the satin finish and the brush finish both are not shiny. satin finish is smooth but brush finish looks textured by wire brush.

Use sandpaper with a grit of 180 to 240 and scrub your stainless-steel parts toward the grain, using even pressure and keeping scrubing for several times. Then shift to a finer grit of 320 to 400 to remove any remaining scratches or marks

Capabilities

Other Surface Finishing

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