APT BLOG

Types of Powder Coating

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Choosing Types of Powder Coating for any Industry

 

Powder coating is a surface finishing option that applies a relatively thin film to provide excellent corrosion protection and chemical resistance in a highly cosmetic manner.  While parts are often designed with specific colors, gloss, and textures – the types of powder coating are often overlooked, yet a critical component to every powder coating job.

Powder coatings are applied in a variety of types. Each resin system has specific attributes that are able to better suit needs of specific environments. Some of the most popular types of powder coating include: Epoxy Powder Coatings; Polyester Powder Coatings; Hybrid Powder Coatings.

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Electroless Nickel Phosphorus Content

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Electroless Nickel Phosphorus Content – Low, Medium & High

Electroless Nickel Phosphorus Content

Electroless Nickel plating has become a very popular surface finish option offered by a wide range of suppliers, often with varying amounts of phosphorus content in the reducing agent.  These variations are often referred to as Low Phosphorus, Medium Phosphorus, and High Phosphorus.  Low Phosphorus usually has between 1-4% phosphorus in the chemical deposit, while Medium Phosphorus has between 5-9% phosphorus.  Anything greater than 9% phosphorus is referred to as High Phosphorus.  The variance of this phosphorus content in the Electroless Nickel plating deposit has significant impact on the mechanical properties of the deposit and the applications that deposit can be applied to. Continue reading →

Deposit Thickness in Surface Finishing, the Misunderstood Variable

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Deposit Thickness in Surface Finishing

By: J. Lindstedt, President.

In ordering a surface coating system to enhance the performance of an article in service, the use of standard finishing specifications is the established procedure employed by most manufacturing entities. The specifications most commonly referenced are ASTM, MIL Specs, AMS and unique corporate specifications.

Surface finishing specifications identify a number of parameters which evaluate the ability of the surface coating to perform its intended function. The most common coating requirements used to qualify a coating system are:
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Corrosion Protection Benefits of Electroless Nickel Plating

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Electroless Nickel Plating: Superior Corrosion Protection

 

Electroless Nickel over Stainless Steel

Raw metals other than precious metals can easily oxidize and corrode over time when exposed to various environmental conditions and corrosive applications.  The proper design of any component must begin with a surface engineering evaluation to ensure that the product will function reliably over the intended service life.  Even in relatively mild service applications, corrosion can result in functional issues and shortfalls.  Electroless nickel plating can provide a robust solution to corrosive attack across a range of corrosive mechanisms including galvanic corrosion, chemical attack and erosion. Electroless nickel plating (EN) can be applied to a wide range of basis metals including steel, copper, brass and aluminum alloys. Electroless Nickel plating is currently utilized to promote corrosion protection performance across a diverse range of industries including heavy equipment, oil & gas, power transmission & distribution, automotive, marine and railway to name a few. Continue reading →

Plating Methods & Tooling Design Considerations for Rack Plating

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By James Lindstedt, Manufacturing & Process Engineer

Rack Plating Introduction – A Metal Finishing Job Shop

Advanced Plating Technologies is a metal finishing job shop. What does that mean? A metal finishing job shop encounters the metal finishing demands of any industry that has a need for metal finishing. Metal finishing is a highly diverse industry serves the needs  of  a myriad of other industries. Although there is always common ground, every industry has its own unique set of needs and criteria for metal finishing. The conscientious metal finisher must be able to recognize these unique requirements, and reconcile them with the nuances of the plating methods and processes.

Rack Plating & Tooling

When quoting at a prospective job, some of the key factors to consider are:

Rack Plating Gold

  • Part geometry
  • End use
  • Base material
  • Part volume (EAU)
  • Throughput
  • Type Of Process (Electroless, Electrolytic, Immersion Only, etc)

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Critical Details Often Overlooked When Specifying a Plating Process

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By R. Savija
All specifications for electroplating, whether military, federal, ISO, ASTM or SAE-AMS specifications, have an initial section that contains essential information to be supplied by the purchaser to the electroplater. More times than not, much of this information is omitted from part prints and purchasing documents which opens the door to potential miscommunication and finishing shortfalls. This blog details some of the more common omissions that are discovered by Advanced Plating Technologies’ engineering staff during quoting or contract review of specifying a plating process.

Specification of the plating thickness and tolerance requirements:

Geometric Tolerances Often a minimum/maximum thickness tolerance without a defined checkpoint cannot be realistically obtained with a traditional electroplating process. For example, a plating specification that lists a minimum plating thickness of 0.0003” and a maximum plating thickness of 0.0005” for all surfaces of an electroplated part would not be achievable on most part geometries due to the inherent variations in electrolytic plating distribution. Continue reading →

Educational Resources for Metal Surface Finishing Professionals

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image004 Are you new to the metal finishing industry? Perhaps you’ve recently been promoted to a buyer of electroplated material/services within your organization’s supply chain department…a new supplier quality engineer overseeing metal finishing applications…a design engineer who has to address surface engineering as a key component of product design…or a student contemplating a career in metal surface finishing.

No matter what your informational needs are, the following online resources are a great starting point, each providing a wealth of technical and training information and links related to metal surface finishing technology, environmental impact and regulatory compliance. Continue reading →

Application Considerations For Gold and Silver Wire Bonding Finishes

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By E Probasco

GB3_2040_100dpi6x4 Wire bonding is a method in which connections are made between components and/or the leads of a lead frame with extremely fine wires. The wires are typically aluminum or gold, but also include copper and silver. There are three common types of bonding, thermocompression, thermosonic, and ultrasonic. wirebond1 Thermocompression uses force, time, and heat to join metals together, while thermosonic uses force, times, heat, and sonics, and ultrasonic bonding uses force, time, and sonics. In any of these instances the most important aspect of bonding is to form a good metallurgical bond with the wire and the metal substrate. Continue reading →

APT’s Role of US Military Subcontractor Featured in Fifty Caliber Shooters Association Article

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US Military Subcontractor Article Advance Plating Technologies continues its role as trusted technical adviser to a number of diverse market sectors.

In our latest profile, The Fifty Caliber Shooters Association’s quarterly publication Very High Power discusses APT’s  role as a subcontractor to the US military, providing specialty plating of a new line of DDI ammunition.  Engineered finishes aiding positive  identification of ammunition types, and withstanding multiple load and unload cycles are key DDI design requirements achieved by Advanced Plating Technologies.

The article further discusses other APT engineered surface treatments used for corrosion prevention and metal on metal lubrication within the ammunition component industry. Read more…

Gold Plating of Micro Components | Specialized Techniques to Ensure Consistent Deposition and Part Cleanliness

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Gold Plating of Micro Components

Gold Plated Interconnect Crimp Tubes

Gold Plated Interconnect Crimp Tubes

Gold plating of micro-components such as those used within the medical and interconnect industries presents unique plating challenges. Many micro-component surface treatments, whether being gold plated, silver plated or even passivated corrosion-resistant alloys require specialized process tooling and processing techniques to ensure plating finishes are uniform across all functional surfaces. The cleaning, processing, rinsing and drying processes must all be engineered around the characteristics of the micro component.

Prior to developing micro-compatible processes, plating techniques were limited to significantly larger components on a more macro-scale. Opportunities to expand services within the medical and interconnect industries was the business driver that pushed Advanced Plating Technologies (APT) to focus on process development for substantially smaller micro-components. Continue reading →