South West Metal Finishing offers Zinc Nickel to Airbus Specification AIPS 02-04-006 as well as AMS 2417 and many other specifications. The Zinc Nickel process offers a coating that is used in the protection of steel, copper, and brass alloys. Zinc Nickel is widely recognized as an environmentally safe alternative to cadmium and in certain applications, demonstrates equivalent, or better, corrosion properties compared to cadmium.
Zinc-Nickel functions as a "sacrificial coating", corroding before the base material, and can also replace cadmium in a galvanic interaction where the coating is intended to minimize corrosion caused by dissimilar metals.
South West Metal Finishing offers RoHS compliant trivalent Clear and Hexavalent colour post plate treatments for enhanced corrosion protection, and also specific torque-tension applications.Plating Capabilities:
- LHE process, a specialised aerospace process for high strength steels over 1450 mpa
- Rack and barrel plating available
- RoHS compliant trivalent Clear and Hexavalent colour post-plate treatments
- Precision masking available for selective plating
- In house salt spray testing per ASTM B 117
- Thickness analysis using XRF technology
Example Specifications:
- Airbus Industry Process Specification (AIPS)
- Aerospace Material Specification (AMS)
- AIPS 02-04-006
- AMS 2417
- UTC Aerospace
- and many others
Typical Applications Of Zinc-Nickel Electroplating:
- Aerospace as a cadmium replacement commonly bearings, used to minimize galvanic corrosion when mating stainless steel and aluminium
- Automotive Industry, used when corrosion protection is required that is superior to standard zinc plating
- Electrical Transmission Industry, cleats bolts, and coaxial cables
- Fastener Industry, used for improved corrosion protection and a cadmium replacement
- Defence Industry, used as a cadmium replacement