Patent ID: 7045024

Claim:
A method for treating a metal surface, comprising cleaning and deoxidizing the metal surface, rinsing the deoxidized metal surface with water, contacting the deoxidized and rinsed metal surface with an aqueous oxidizing solution of transition metal oxyanion salts, each transition metal oxyanion salt having a transition metal oxyanion concentration of 1–100 mmol/l, a solution temperature in the range 10–100° C., allowing the metal surface to be oxidized by transition metal oxyanions, removing the oxidized metal surface from being in contact with the solution, rinsing the oxidized metal surface with water and drying the oxidized and rinsed metal surface, characterized in that the transition metal oxyanions comprise ferrate (VI) (FeO 4 2 ) and one or more transition metal oxyanions selected from the group consisting of permanganate, molybdate, vanadate, tungstate, and combinations thereof and wherein the solution has a pH greater than 13.5.