Metal Polishing Engineers Ltd

Stainless steel cleaning, electropolishing stainless steel, passivation, pickling and mechanical polishing form the basis of the key specialist services that are undertaken by MPE Limited. Since its formation in 1989, MPE Limited has witnessed many changes in processes and specifications within the stainless steel processing industry. MPE Limited have been able to evolve and improve by investing in necessary training, equipment and personnel to improve on quality and efficiency.

MPE are leaders in our field. We are trusted by a wide range of clients, including governmental bodies and multi-national companies. Our expertise lies not only in design, fabrication and finishing, but extends to stainless steel restoration and protection too. Many clients employ our stainless steel consultancy services, viewing them as critical to achieving a cost effective outcome to their project.

Stainless Steel Handrails & Balustrade Systems
MPE Limited design, create and install bespoke stainless steel handrails that benefit from exceptional corrosion resistance thanks to the use of electropolishing that ensures the handrails continue to look good for far longer than handrails that have not received this treatment.

Suitable for use indoors and outdoors, stainless steel handrails have a clean, contemporary, high-quality appearance and, most importantly, they need virtually no maintenance in order to maintain their appearance over many years. Sometimes architects shy away from specifying stainless steel handrails for exterior applications, particularly in marine environments, because they are afraid that ‘tea-staining’ and minor surface corrosion will detract from the good appearance. However, MPE Limited’s handrails benefit from passivation or, more usually for exterior projects, electropolishing to ensure the handrails will remain entirely corrosion-free.

Passivation involves a relatively simple chemical process that is used after manufacturing processes such as welding or grinding. Carried out in accordance with the requirements laid down in ASTM A967, Standard Specification for Chemical Passivation Treatments for Stainless Steel Parts, the process restores the protective oxide layer to the stainless steel surface without adversely altering the appearance. Passivating is highly effective for indoor applications but is not as effective outdoors.

For corrosion protection that is up to 30 times better than that available from other processes, electropolishing removes a very small amount of surface material by means of electrolysis, with the process undertaken in line with the requirements in ISO 15730, metallic and other inorganic coatings - electropolishing as a means of smoothing and passivating stainless steel.

What We Do

• Electropolishing & Mechanical Polishing
  Electropolishing is an electrochemical process similar to, but the reverse of, electroplating. The process provides maximum corrosion resistance to the surfaces of stainless steel components.


• Mechanical Polishing
  In addition to the finishing properties of electropolishing, MPE Ltd also offer the facility for precision mechanical polishing on components manufactured from stainless steel and related alloys. Our mechanical polishing specification offer the ability to achieve a super mirror finish of below 0.10 Ra micron-meters as well as the ability to achieve finishes on inside diameters to 3.00mm.


• Passivation of Stainless Steel
  Passivation is a post fabrication/machining process to maximize the corrosion resistance of the Stainless Steel material. The process is carried out by the dissolution of any surface iron compounds (free iron) by using an acid solution, most commonly Nitric Acid (Willowchem 70).


• Pickling of Stainless Steel
  Pickling is a surface treatment process to remove scaling, thermal oxides, impurities and surface contaminant. The process is carried out by immersion in a pickling solution (Willowchem 81) for a calculated time, based on surface area and material specification.


• Medical Device Processing
  MPE Ltd has recently developed a specific and innovative electrolytic process to metallurgically enhance the stainless steel material used to manufacture surgical instruments.


• Cleaning of Stainless Steel
  MPE Limited specialises in treatment and processing of stainless steel and has produced a range of chemical treatment products for stainless steel cleaning, called The Willowchem Range.


• Consultancy & Advice
  MPE Ltd offers qualified and experienced consultancy and advice on stainless steel issues.


• Derouging Stainless Steel
  One of the specialised services offered MPE Ltd is called derouging of Stainless Steel surfaces, found in processing components, spools, vessels, tubes, valves etc, used in the Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Medical industry.

For more information, please Contact Us!