The proprietary Brushed Stainless anodize finish from Linetec helps to enhance and protect architectural aluminum products. It emulates the clean, bright surface that architects and specifiers find desirable in stainless steel and creates a similar look on aluminum, offering a more cost effective, lightweight option.
Anodizing is the process of electrochemically controlling, accelerating, and enhancing oxidation of an aluminum substrate. The anodizing process, because it is an integral part of the substrate, produces an oxide film that is uniform, hard, and protects the rest of the aluminum substrate from deterioration—providing wear and abrasion resistance with minimal maintenance in most environments. The coating produced is extremely durable, and the hardness of the surface is comparable to a sapphire—the second hardest substance on earth.
“Stainless steel has long been used in the architectural construction industry for its luster, richness, and highly reflective appearance. This unique look could only be found in stainless steel until now, with the introduction of our Brushed Stainless anodized finish,” says Jon Close, Linetec’s vice president of sales and marketing.
“Due to cost, stainless steel can be value-engineered out of a project. Our new Brushed Stainless finish offers the popular look of stainless steel at less cost and almost one-third the weight of actual steel, with greater fabrication flexibility and all the strengths of anodize,” explains Close.
Brushed Stainless anodize finish resists fingerprints and scratching, and requires minimal maintenance, including in high-traffic areas offering excellent wear and abrasion resistance.
The brushed pattern simulates the appearance of stainless steel. Close adds, “Typically, anodize finishes have a limited color range from champagne to dark bronze and black. Linetec successfully challenged this accepted color palette with an exclusive copper anodize that does not patina. We expect a similar, enthusiastic reception from the architectural community for Brushed Stainless.”
A high-performance anodized finish has an extremely long life span, has exceptional stability to ultraviolet rays, is non-hazardous, and produces no harmful or dangerous by-products. In line with Linetec’s core value of Environmental Responsibility, Linetec has implemented the newer electro-polishing technology to achieve the highly reflective aesthetic properties of stainless steel on aluminum. The traditional process used for brightening aluminum surfaces is known as bright dip. Bright dip emits toxic fumes, which can be hazardous to those working around it, and are extremely corrosive to the equipment and buildings it is housed within. In contrast, electro-polishing has no hazardous discharge
Linetec’s anodize finishes meet the requirements of the American Architectural Manufacturers Association’s stringent Class I specification standard, AAMA 611-14. The anodized aluminum resists the ravages of time, temperature, corrosion, humidity, and warping, for a long product life cycle. Anodized aluminum may be specified with recycled content and is 100% recyclable. An inert material, it is not combustible and poses no health risks.
