Hi Pataterchip!
After looking at the photos again, I noticed that in your OP, you mention that your photo's show that the "blotches' as well as the visually colored HAZ were still present even after the components were sent out for pickling & passivation!!! That really struck me after I read that again, because usually one can get rid of the visually colored HAZ after pickling and passivation very easily and that was not the case in the photo's!!!
This leads me to believe ever so strongly that the pickling and passivation process was
NOT properly performed otherwise why would the visually colored HAZ which wasn't a wide HAZ, still present even after pickling and passivation??? If the proper procedures were used, at the very least, the visually colored HAZ would no longer be there especially if it was a HAZ of that width!
I would ask the provider of the pickling and passivation why would there still be a visually colored HAZ present afterwards since it's supposed to be removed as part of the process???
Btw, I owe you an apology for stating what I did in the previous post now that I've re-read it again... When I said: "if you don't like what I wrote - Too friggin BAD!!!" I did not mean it towards you personally... I meant it towards anyone else that may disagree with me, and it was sort of a "knee-jerk" reaction as a result of some previous confrontations I had experienced a few times before in recent times with certain individuals who would twist whatever I wrote, or expressed as an opinion and turn it against me in order to discredit me...
Thank goodness, that one of the persons I have alluded to has been banned so once again, My sincerest apology for being so defensive when it really wasn't directed at you personally but nonetheless, I felt the need to clarify what I meant when I wrote that statement in my previous post. ;)
Respectfully,
Henry