To make the house look attractive and constantly create a festive atmosphere, everything must be beautiful in it. Particularly carefully required to take care of the decorative and high-quality protection of metal structural elements. Modern paints and varnishes for metals will help in this. So, if you are interested in how to remove rust from metal, then everything will concern this issue.
What are we dealing with?
In everyday life and modern construction, a huge number of steel metal structures are used, which must be carefully protected from the effects of negative environmental factors leading to corrosion - the destruction of metal under the influence of electrochemical and chemical processes. Over time, corrosion becomes the cause of a decrease in the strength of metal products and their destruction, gradually they lose their appearance and lose their structural qualities. Corrosion processes occur at different speeds depending on the conditions in which the product is carried out and used. Since it is almost impossible to completely eliminate atmospheric effects on metal structures, therefore, the protection problem is in the foreground. Or the question arises: how to remove rust from metal?
The easiest way out
In practice, it has already been repeatedly proved that any metal structures are easiest to protect by applying special paints. Compared to other types of protective coatings, paints and varnishes have a number of advantages: ease and high speed of application, the possibility of obtaining a coating of the desired color. A rather important point concerns the possibility of processing metal structures of complex configuration and large sizes. Thanks to the use of modern paint and varnish materials and tools, it is possible to maintain metal products in good condition without much effort. With proper care, you can count on many years of service.
However, in any case, before painting, it is necessary to get rid of the consequences of corrosion processes that could very well begin. That is why the question arises, how to remove rust from metal?
Foundation preparation
It is required to remove the old coating from the metal surface so that the adhesion of the paint is better. The next step is to clean the surface of various contaminants, as well as rust, which could already have appeared there. The cleaning method may be chemical, thermal or mechanical. If we continue to talk about how to remove rust from metal at home, then it is worth considering each of them.
The first method involves the use of alkaline detergent compositions or active solvents to remove a variety of organic compounds. This is what will help you in solving the issue of how to remove rust from metal in a chemical way. By the mechanical method it is customary to understand the use of abrasive materials, it can be shot, sand, a mixture of water and sand, sandpaper and others, or special tools - grinding machines, brushes, knives, etc. By means of this method, a cleaned surface with a uniform roughness is obtained, contributing to an increase in the degree of adhesion to the paint film.
The thermal method involves attracting a hot air gun or flame of an acetylene burner.
Treatment
So, when it became clear to you how to remove rust from metal, it was time to talk about further surface treatment. After cleaning, it is necessary to carry out the following preparatory procedures - priming and puttying. The first operation is carried out to create a sufficiently strong bond between the surface to be painted and the remaining layers of paints and varnishes. Priming also provides a high degree of corrosion resistance of the metal, overlaps pores and other defects. So, if you already understand how to remove rust from metal before painting, it is worth saying that priming is the next procedure after the work on cleaning the surface is completed. It consists in applying to the surface a thin layer of a special composition called a primer.
Varieties of compositions
So, if you are interested in how to remove rust from car metal, then primers, which are rust converters, are quite convenient in practical terms. This is due to the inability to completely remove traces of corrosion from products of complex or intricate shapes. It is quite possible to use such a composition after mechanical removal of the upper layer of rust, which looks very loose. These primers contain special modifiers that transfer iron oxide to a new state - tight adhesion to the metal surface. Such compounds do not violate the corrosion resistance of the coating and its adhesion. Phosphoric acid derivatives, as well as a number of tannins, are often modifiers.
Next stage
After the priming is completed, the time comes for the next operation - putty. This method is intended for sealing cracks, leveling the surface, giving it uniformity. Putty is a mixture consisting of plasticizer, filler, binder and special additives.
The putty mix can be sold dry or ready to eat. Usually, putty is applied to the surface by means of a spatula and its further leveling. And when the base is completely cleaned, primed and putty, you can begin to apply the paintwork, which is the finish.
Paint on metal surfaces can be applied using brushes, spray guns or rollers. The number of coating layers depends on its opacity. So, now you not only know how to remove rust from metal, but also how to protect it so that in the future such problems do not arise.