Comments on: The risks of plating fasteners http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/1986/the-risks-of-plating-fasteners/ Specific mission-critical info for professionals Fri, 18 May 2012 09:25:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Terry http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/1986/the-risks-of-plating-fasteners/comment-page-1/#comment-9849 Terry Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:49:51 +0000 http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/1986/the-risks-of-plating-fasteners/#comment-9849 Hydrogen embrittlement due to electroplating is a well understood phenomena, and manufacturers of threaded fasteners know how to prevent it with a post plating bake-off. Cadmium plating was widely used on steel fasteners at one time because it provided excellent corrosion protection. But due to toxicity concerns it is no longer used. Silver plating is still widely used on stainless steel fasteners as an anti-seize because it is soft and non-reactive. Another type of plating now being used on stainless steel fasteners is teflon-electroless nickel. The electroless nickel works well with threaded fasteners because it builds up uniformly on the thread surfaces, while other electroplated materials tend to accumulate excessively on the thread tips. Besides hydrogen embrittlement issues when plating steel, there are also stress corrosion cracking concerns with material combinations such as silver and titanium. For corrosion protection of steel parts, the most effective coating currently used in aerospace is IVD aluminum. Hydrogen embrittlement due to electroplating is a well understood phenomena, and manufacturers of threaded fasteners know how to prevent it with a post plating bake-off.

Cadmium plating was widely used on steel fasteners at one time because it provided excellent corrosion protection. But due to toxicity concerns it is no longer used. Silver plating is still widely used on stainless steel fasteners as an anti-seize because it is soft and non-reactive.

Another type of plating now being used on stainless steel fasteners is teflon-electroless nickel. The electroless nickel works well with threaded fasteners because it builds up uniformly on the thread surfaces, while other electroplated materials tend to accumulate excessively on the thread tips.

Besides hydrogen embrittlement issues when plating steel, there are also stress corrosion cracking concerns with material combinations such as silver and titanium.

For corrosion protection of steel parts, the most effective coating currently used in aerospace is IVD aluminum.

]]>