Metal Plating is an efficient way and an integral part of the metal finishing process that helps industries by increasing the protective power, appearance, resilience, and chemical properties of metal substrates. Other than electric charge supported metal plating process, nowadays plating industries are prepared with electroless plating procedure, which can perform effectively without any backup of electric charge while using compounds like prosperous that act as a catalyst. Due to its simplicity, consistency, and affordability, electroless plating is getting increased recognition to industrial users. The two methods are explained below:

Electroplatin

Electroplating is accomplished through submerging a metal object into an electrolyte solution containing dissolved ions of another metal in it. The negatively charged pole (anode) consisting the metal which needs to be coated while a cathode, i.e., positively charged is intended to produce the film of non-ionic metal which gets coated on the substrate during the process.

Electroless Plating

As its name implies, the process is not dependent on an electrical charge and accomplished through auto-catalytic plating. This is a unique non-galvanic plating procedure mainly uses sodium hypophosphate that acts as a catalyst in the process and through oxidation, it helps to produce a negative charge and film on the metal object. One of the most demanding and common forms of electroless coating procedure is electroless nickel plating.

Metal Plating Advantages -An overview

• Provides extremely resistive layer on substrates to all possible oxidation, rusting, and abrasion; it acts as a comprehensive barrier to shelter the object underneath.

• Betters adhesive property of metals enabling them to bond paint base and increases the reliability of objects used in critical applications;

• Improves conductivity, lubricity, and hardness of various metal objects;

• It’s an excellent way to improve the visual appeal of products, induce color options, feel, and textures;

• Increases the thickness of the coating that offers longevity; plating equally guards various metal objects against possible tarnishing, peeling, or fading;

Three Popular Plating Process

Nickel Plating

The nickel electroplating process is intended to transfer and deposit a film of nickel on a substrate via electrodepositing means. Nickel-plated metal parts are globally used for an extensive range of industrial applications. Aside from nickel electroplating, with the rise of electroless nickel plating concept, the industry is more fertile to offer comprehensive solutions that are cost effective and less time taking. It offers anti-corrosive ability, high durability, friction resistance to metal substrates and boosts aesthetical value.

Copper Plating

The innate chemical property of copper of its being an exclusive conductor of electricity makes it one of the largest demanding metals in the world. However, it also benefits the industry with its resistive potency to corrosion, solderability, and endurance. It is also a low-cost plating procedure.

Gold Plating

Next to jewelry, gold plating boasts extensive popularity in electronics, engineering, aerospace, defense, and other industries. Excepting for its highly prestigious glossy aesthetic value, gold plating is one of the major demands in the electronics world due to excellent electrically conductive feature. They are widely used for preparing inner circuit lines of printed circuit boards considering their high integrity level to flow electrical charge within PCB’s seamlessly. They are also anti-corrosive.

In terms of demand, Zinc boasts 4th rank worldwide next to steel, aluminum, and copper. Over 50% of its total consumption in industrial applications is employed toward zinc galvanizing essentially to protect steel and iron from their biggest enemy rusting. Galvanizing involves plating of metal substrates with a thin layer of zinc that helps generate an anti-corrosion barrier. Remarkably, brass which is a widespread form of zinc usage is produced via alloying copper with it. Apart from protecting metallic parts from corrosion, Zinc plating offers a series of benefits in industrial, commercial, and domestic uses. Let’s have to look to its great attributes of zinc electroplating.

The Plating Process

Typically, the plating process begins with pretreatment involving cleaning the exterior of the object, accomplished by use of alkaline detergent solution as well as an acid solution for removal of dirt, debris, oils, and rust of the surface. Once cleaned, the ready for plating substance is dipped into an electrolyte solution with dissolved zinc. Then a DC electrical current is passed through the solution, which helps in the easy and consistent deposition of zinc on the metal through the electro-deposition process.

Zinc Plating Benefits on Metals

Corrosion Protection

With its natural ability to produce corrosion byproducts, zinc plating can lessen the rate of corrosion of ferrous metals amazingly. Commonly referred to zinc patina, the zinc coat serves to be an extremely protective wall on metal substrates. They keep moisture away which is the key cause of oxidation and speed up rusting of steel, iron or other metals.

Easy Application

Zinc coatings are an easy to apply process which won’t make stress on objects while plating and naturally don’t cause damage. With a range of plating means, industries from automotive to decorative world and others are widely benefited with zinc plating for product finishes.

Shiny Finishes

Aside from enhancing chemical properties of metal surfaces, one of the key objectives of plating is to enhance the visual appeal of objects that make them attractive to potential consumers. With zinc plating, you can get a level of luster corresponding to chromium which can be evenly controlled with a variety of additives used. Thus, as you can get matt finishing or rough texture, also your service provider can offer you glittery finishes of components or decorative items.

Range of Colors

When it comes to zinc plating, the industry is rich enough to offer a range of color options including Yellow, Black, Blue, and Acidic. Excepting for their aesthetical part, interestingly each color type offers various levels of the anti-corrosive feature. Like yellow and black (olive or pure) provide medium and higher protection resistance respectively and globally demanding in automotive, hardware and engineering applications. Blue or clear is more biodegradable and include the standard level of protection to corrosion. Acid, on the other hand, is mainly used for hard-to-plate substrates.

Means of Plating Concept

Perhaps one of the unique plus points of zinc plating is its varied plating approaches known as rack and barrel plating appear extremely accommodating to industrial uses in choosing procedure matching to the type of products and their volume. It also makes zinc plating low cost for industries.

Effective Undercoat

Owing to its amazing adhesive properties, zinc coating is often demanded to increase the resistive capability to corrosion while working as an undercoat of painted metal surfaces.

The scope of Zinc Alloys

Plating zinc alloys perform much better than zinc itself as anti-corrosive. This is the key cause why plating with zinc-cobalt has demand in major industrial applications. Other than zinc cobalt, some popular alloys of zinc include zinc-iron, zinc nickel, and tin-zinc Regardless the type of alloy its performance is better than zinc plating alone.

Anodizing is a unique electrolytic passivation procedure intended to enhance the thickness of innate oxide layer of substrates of metal parts. The process increases chemical properties like resistance to possible oxidation, corrosion, and wear as bettering the amount of adhesion ability of a metal exterior than what it has. While anodizing works on various base materials, however, aluminum responds most brilliant, effective, and economical to anodizing.

Because aluminum oxide is not virtually conductive as aluminum, it is often preferred for insulation purpose in electronics and electrical. Over and above, anodic films offer cosmetic excellence and with thick porous coatings that can attract dyes used in artwork and decorative purposes. The article highlights on six points with a view to letting readers have an overall idea about anodizing.

The Process of Anodizing

The electrochemical process of anodizing involves submerging aluminum alloy into a tank containing electrolytic solution following needed pretreatment. Once submerged, an electrical charge is passed through the object to be anodized as the anode and aluminum as the cathode. The charge oxidizes the aluminum leaving a thick oxide film on the target object of the metal part.

Types of Anodizing

The three types of anodizing are equally demanding in the industries depending on their applications since each offers distinct advantages and chemical properties over its counterparts.

Type I: The basic anodizing type that uses chromic acid in solution to produce an extremely thin, malleable, non-conductive aluminum layer on the substrate;

Type II: In place of chromic acid, Type II anodizing uses sulfuric acid and produces a thicker anodized layer on an object making it accommodating for coloration;

Hardcoat (Type III): Popularly known as hard anodizing, Type III also needs sulfuric acid in solution and provides the thickest layer suitable for coloration.

Color Adding Procedure

If you wonder why an anodized color is so hardwearing that never peels or scratched off, then note that the steady etched empty pores of the coat make it possible to introduce pigments or tints. Not only pigments fill the pores but once completed, it gets permanently sealed off making its alike a natural surface of the object.

Why Does Aluminum Need Anti-oxide Layer?

Pure aluminum owns its natural oxide layer which does not corrode easily, however, by and large, types of aluminum used in industrial applications are an aluminum alloy. Moreover, elements used for alloying are subject to corrosion unless it is treated with a thick aluminum oxide layer. In fact, to defend aluminum products from oxidation, corrosion, and abrasion of aluminum alloy metals, anodizing has been established as most well-balanced and economical means.

How Solid Is Anodizing?

Aluminum is fairly a soft metal as compared to steel or titanium while aluminum oxide displays extremely hard. As anodizing process produces an aluminum oxide layer on the substrate of aluminum alloy, it increases its wear resistive ability to a great extent. Which is why anodized aluminum has increasing demand in all industrial applications from aerospace to off-shore, engineering to construction and decorative to home appliances.

Is Anodizing Safe?

Opposed to various electroplating procedures, the technological approach of anodizing has been established safe and eco-friendly, Anodizing accelerates natural oxidation process to add its oxidized layer on a substrate while it doesn’t emit any kind of harmful gas or toxic byproducts that can damage human health or environment.

Powder coating is a dry product finishing process, only one of its kinds that serves more than 15% of industrial finishing market and comes with a wide array of benefits for users. While power coating services count its ever-rising popularity since its emergence in mid 19’s, not all service providers are uniformly equipped with newest technologies, know-how and skilled labors that contribute cumulatively to consistently serve your business need.

Regardless of the type of your business and services, it is always recommended to work with companies that follow the latest coating means, baking methods and up-to-date machinery that not only ensure quality finishing, the durability of coating, greater finishing options but support your products with all attributes of the electrostatic dry coating method. Thus, it’s a crucial need for your business to select a powder coating company that can deliver your highest class of coating services with complete solutions available in the industry. So, how to go about? Here are six steps to follow.

Ensure if Licensed and Verify Credentials

Instead of visiting personally, to begin with, it’s a better option to ensure if the company is fitted with proper license and certified with ISO. Regardless of your business type, whether you’re involved in fabrication business with corporate clients like Aviation, Defense services. Engineering, Medical, and Healthcare or an end-user, having supplies of all types of metal finishing including powder coating services from properly licensed, Quality Assurance certificated service providers is essential.

Check Background

Background involves each and every element including a company’s history on specialization, profile details (typically we will get in ‘About US’ page of website), location (mind your supplier should be well located within the surrounding and must be accessible as and when you’re in need of them, be it meant for a consultancy for new coating development or for complaining about certain error). As you should diligently consider the length of experience, make sure about the company’s success rate, the area of services, procedures followed for powder coating services since that testify whether you can expect quality, service and cost advantage from the company.

Verify Setup

If you’re satisfied up to this level, make an appointment and meet the facility in person. As you should have an eye on the types of machinery and tools used, check the entire phase of processing of metal finishing before, during, and after the coating is done. Do they go through a methodical pre-treatment process, which is a must, before applying a coating since that ensures the integrity of the coating from flaking, peeling, scratching in future? While they should adhere to proper cleaning, acid treatment in the pretreatment phase, you should expect them to coat your materials backed by the latest concepts, machines, and skilled labors. Having state-of-the-art processing and volume of work contributes to the low cost which you must not forget.

Services Offered

Even though powder coating services are available with limited color options, but with the adoption of the newest techniques, high profile service providers can hand you fantastic solutions of texture finishing. Not only that adds to product aesthetic but eventually defends the products from exterior damages like peeling or scratching. Contextually, while a number of users consider Matt finish powder coating services, several looks for glossy or smooth finishing of their products depending on their type of applications.

Get a Few Samples

Get a few samples of their current powder coating services of different texture finishing and also, let the service provider work on your materials with the type of powder coating you require. Depending on applications, often your clients may require special kind of pretreatment procedure or backing method to get the desired outcome. Make sure, if the provider of coating service has enough infrastructure to meet your client’s demand. This will save your business from complete batch rejection, so be careful to ascertain those factors before finalizing.

Check References

Till now, all the ground works you have gone through is intended to testify if the company is dependable to meet what you expect from the service provider. Now, in order to get the market report of the company, ask for their previous client list with details of content numbers. Studying merely online reviews may not suffice, consider knowing more about the companies quality, consistency, and services from its previous clients while choosing the right powder coating services for your business need.

Cadmium plating is a type of coating process used for protecting metal parts against corrosion. Cadmium coating is popular for its extremely high durability and excellent resistance in aquatic settings and harsh environments.

Today we will discuss everything you need to know about the cadmium plating.

What is cadmium plating and how does cadmium plating process work?

Cadmium plating is an electroplating process in which layer of cadmium metal deposited over the entire surface of the metal substrate. Cadmium coating is a very strong metal coating that provides outstanding corrosion resistance. It functions as a sacrificial coating and corrodes before the substrate material. Due to the excellent corrosion resistance of cadmium plating in the salty water environment and harsh conditions, it is preferred for aerospace and marine industry.

Cadmium coating can be applied to the metal substrate in several ways such as electroplating, mechanical plating, and vacuum or ion deposition. A most common method used for applying the cadmium coating is electroplating.

In cadmium electroplating, cadmium is deposited to the metal substrate through electrodeposition. In this process, first of all, a metal substrate is cleaned thoroughly. After cleaning the metal substrate, it is immersed into the plating bath containing cadmium ions and other electrolytes. A DC current is passed through the electrolyte solution. The metal substrate act as a cathode and positive cadmium ions get deposited on the surface of the metal substrate.

Cadmium coating is highly toxic in nature. Therefore it must not be used for the coating of metal items that come in direct contact with food.

Advantages of Cadmium Plating

Corrosion Prevention

Cadmium plating is popular for its corrosion resistance abilities. It provides outstanding resistance against moisture, water, and air. It provides great resistance in aquatic settings. That’s why it is ideal for the coating of metal components which exposed to the salt water. Also, the thickness of plating gives the idea of how long it will take the underneath metal substrate to begin to corrode. The thickness of cadmium plating ranges from 0.0001 to 0.0010 inches. You can choose the thickness of the cadmium coating as per your needs.

Durability

Cadmium plating is extremely durable and lasts long. It provides excellent protection to the metal substrate underneath it. It protects metal parts against wear and abrasion and increases their lifetime. It does not peel easily and highly resistant to wear. High durability and excellent strength of cadmium plating, makes it a preferred choice of coating for aircraft manufacturing parts and metal parts used in industrial machinery.

Lubricity

This is the natural characteristics of cadmium plating. It offers excellent natural lubricity and reduces friction between metal surfaces that touch each other. That’s why ideal for metal plating of metal parts used in industrial machinery. Also, cadmium coating has a favorable galvanic coupling with aluminum, therefore, ideal for the coating of metal parts made of aluminum. Low level of galvanic corrosion of cadmium plating makes it an ideal choice for the aerospace industry.

Adhesion

Another key advantage of cadmium plating is it offers an exceptional bonding surface for adhesives. Paint adheres well to cadmium coated surfaces and forms a strong bond with the metal surface. It can also be used as a finished surface. You can leave cadmium coated metal parts as it is. It provides great finishing that retains its appearance for a long time.

Exceptional Electrical Conductivity

Cadmium plating offers very low resistance to the electric current. It has excellent electrical conductivity. It allows the smooth and efficient transfer of electricity. Therefore, it is ideal for coating of wire, connectors, and metal components used in electric connections.

These are the key advantages of cadmium plating that makes it a perfect choice of metal coating.

Final Thoughts

Corrosion is the most dangerous enemy of the metal. Cadmium plating is a robust and versatile metallic coating for metal components. If you manufacture metal parts which are meant to be used in harsh environments, there is nothing like cadmium plating.