A piece of brushed aluminium A collection of brushed stainless steel Breville small appliances A DeLorean featuring non-structural brushed stainless steel panels The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri ">St._Louis,_Missouri.html" ;"title="Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri">Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri Brushed stainless steel or dull polished metal is metal with a unidirectional satin Surface finishing, finish. It is produced by Polishing (metalworking), polishing the metal with a 120–180 Grit size, grit belt or wheel then softening with an 80–120 grit greaseless compound or a medium non-woven abrasive belt or pad. Commonly brushed metals include

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

. Brushed finishes are popular in both

small appliance A small domestic appliance, also known as a small electric appliance or minor appliance or simply a small appliance, small domestic or small electric, is a portable or semi-portable machine, generally used on table-tops, counter-tops or oth ...

s and whiteware, and feature in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and automotive design. The

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary Catenary arch, arch, it is the world's tallest arch and List of tallest buildings in Missouri, Missouri's ...

and

DMC DeLorean The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine, two–seat sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling compa ...

are both clad in brushed stainless steel. The intensity of the brushed finish is specified as a

surface roughness Surface roughness or simply roughness is the quality of a surface of not being smooth and it is hence linked to human ( haptic) perception of the surface texture. From a mathematical perspective it is related to the spatial variability structure ...

and is typically 0.5–1.5

micrometre The micrometre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a uni ...

s R_a.

Characteristics

Brushing gives metal a distinctive look, as it retains some but not all of its metallic lustre and is given a pattern of very fine lines parallel to the brushing direction. For this reason, it is commonly used for decorative items like jewellery and watches. A brushed finish is susceptible to damage. Brushed finishes also typically have a detrimental effect on

corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...

resistance. In particular the brushed texture limits the ability of fluid to

bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 ...

on the material surface. In the case of stainless steel the grooves of the finish can accumulate chloride ions which break down the

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

oxide passivation layer, enabling rusting to occur.

References

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