On Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:00:18 +0700, John B.
wrote:

Does anyone have any suggestions on how, or with what, to coat highly
polished aluminum to, at least, reduce the corrosion to a reasonable
level? Say a once a year polish?

If you spray or dip on a relatively soft coating, further polishing
will remove the coating. One of the locals demonstrated the principle
by polishing his fairly new clear coated vehicle with "light" abrasive
wax, which successfully made the paint look great, until the coating
flaked off. It now looks like a terminal case of automotive leprosy.

You didn't mention if you were planning to do this at home, or send
the parts out to a plating shop. If you want to do it thyself, try
Alodine 1200, Iridite, or various mutations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromate_conversion_coating
All our aluminum marine radio parts and panels were dip treated with
1200, whether painted or exposed. Same with some painted aircraft
parts:
http://www.skygeek.com/henkel-alodine-1201-gallon.html
http://www.skygeek.com/henkel-alodine-1001-gallon.html
You might want to start with a patch kit:
http://www.skygeek.com/henkel-592726-brush-alodine-120-kit.html
Depending on concentration, it will produce a gold to brown color.
Also available in clear, yellow and green.

Alodine vs Anodize:
https://www.finishing.com/448/95.shtml

Oddly, I've never tried Alodyne 1200 on a polished surface. Therefore,
I don't know which concoction to recommend for polished parts. I
think you can get a better answer by asking on:
https://www.finishing.com

You might look into nickel plating on aluminum. It sounds expensive,
but would look really cool:
http://techmetals.com/aluminumelectroless-nickel%E2%80%A2%E2%80%A2%E2%80%A2-a-choice-finish/
https://www.finishing.com/80/41.shtml

A thin coating of some kind of clear coat paint should work, at least
until it wears off. Since it's rather messy trying to clean up such a
worn coating, I suspect a hard auto wax might be a better choice.

A friend asked me how to protect his shiney new aluminum automobile
wheels. It turned out that the wheels are clear coated with some kind
of

In the astronomical circles, there are silicon monoxide (SiO)
protected aluminum coated mirrors:
https://www.edmundoptics.com/resources/application-notes/optics/metallic-mirror-coatings/
I know absolutely nothing about such protected coatings. You're on
your own here.

Also, check on what aircraft owners use on their shiney aluminum
aircraft:
https://www.brightworkpolish.com
I would guess(tm) that it's some form of wax or polymer sealer, but
I'm too lazy to check. Airstream trailers also have a shiny aluminum
polish:
http://vintageairstream.com/polishing/
See the comments on aluminum metalurgy and "maintaining the shine".

Better cycling through chemistry.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558