Coatings Technology Blog

When you need an aluminum oxide finish to fortify metal components for long life, you’ll be faced with various anodizing processes to choose from. At first glance, they all promise protection from common threats and offer similar features and properties. However, not all anodizing processes are created equal, especially when it comes to consistency. When selecting an anodizing vendor, be sure to remember these basic attributes and properties:

• Corrosion resistance. While there are several reasons to use anodizing, corrosion resistance is arguably at the top of the list. Anodization increases the natural oxide layer that’s already on the metal part, which changes the metal’s crystalline structure, effectively creating a seal which protects against corrosion and other hazards.
• Wearability and hardness. Anodizing must resist abrasions and be able to stand up to vibrations that cause galling in sliding motion applications. The highest-quality coatings will achieve hardness levels comparable with case hardened steel or hard chrome plating.
• Lubricity and release. The better the lubricity, the better its non-stick properties. This is especially important in food processing applications. To prevent stick-slips, look for coatings that feature a low coefficient of friction.
• Compliance to standards. Be sure your anodizing satisfies both industry and environmental standards.

Process Variability Affects Quality
Perhaps the hardest part of choosing an anodizing process is finding a vendor that consistently produces a high-quality product. That’s because hard anodizing has no set variables regarding chemistry, temperature and amperage control. For instance, the percentage of acid in the process often fluctuates over time. And, temperatures can vary as much as 10 degrees during production. That means customers cannot be sure they’re getting the same hardness and corrosion resistance each time they purchase a particular coating.

General Magnaplate assures high-quality coatings every time by constantly managing key production parameters. For instance, its Tufram® coatings for aluminum are produced at approximately 30ºF. By automating processes and maintaining consistent temperatures, chemistries and amperages, General Magnaplate offers the hardness, reproducibility and consistent quality that customers can rely on to ensure their products are always protected. Tufram features and benefits include:

• Excellent thermal conductivity for a ceramic material.
• Surface hardness between Rc 40 and Rc 65.
• Thickness range: 0.0004 to 0.003 inches.
• Low coefficient of friction.
• High dielectric strength.
• Self-lubricating and non-wetting surface characteristics.
• Compliance with industry standards, including:
  • NADCAP.
  • USDA and FDA.
  • AMS 2469 and AMS 2482
  • Automotive end of vehicle life (ELV) initiatives.
  • ISO-certified.
  • REACH.

Seek Coatings That Exhibit Consistent Quality
When it comes to protecting your aluminum products, the anodizing coatings available are differentiated both by their properties and the company that stands behind the coating. General Magnaplate’s Tufram coatings for aluminum provide exceptional properties to set them apart from other anodizing services while boasting consistent quality so you can be sure your products always get the protection they demand.

Labeling machines must operate around the clock at very high speeds. But if adhesive residue clings to any of the machine components, the entire production process will grind to a halt until the parts are cleaned. Recently a CNC machining company designed a line of pulleys that operates in a glue-based labeling machine. “We needed a way to prevent the glue from adhering to them,” said the quality control manager. “Avoiding sticking would enable the labeling machine to operate indefinitely.”

Here’s how the MAGNAPLATE TNS™— a series of engineered coatings that provide exceptional release in various adhesive applications — overcame this sticky challenge:

Preventing Buildup And Sticking Using MAGNAPLATE TNS
After consulting with our technical sales team, the company decided to coat the pulleys with MAGNAPLATE TNS™ — a non-stick coating specifically engineered to overcome adhesive industry problems common to formulating, label printing, tape manufacturing and converting materials. It prevents residue buildup and pressure-sensitive tapes from adhering to rollers and other machine parts, which in turn minimizes cleaning delays and improves production uptime. MAGNAPLATE TNS also offers a host of other features and benefits that make them desirable versus other high traction release coatings.

• Eliminates sprays or other release agents.
• Customizable for smooth or rough surfaces.
• Resistance to scratching, chipping, flaking and rubbing off.
• Prevents residue buildup.
• Increased production speeds.

The TNS series of surface enhancement coatings extends the non-stick capabilities of existing Magnaplate coatings, such as PLASMADIZE®. In this instance, the design team opted for PLASMADIZE 1401-04 with effective releasing properties when applied to metal parts that come into contact with adhesives. The TNS series also provides greater resistance to wear and corrosion, thereby improving the performance of the coated parts.

Thousands of Pulleys Unbound
The company has shipped thousands of the pulleys over many years. “We have yet to encounter a single problem from our customers,” said the quality control manager. “We couldn’t be happier with the high-quality, reliable performance of this coating. Thank you to everyone at General Magnaplate for a job well done.”

For more information about the Magnaplate TNS non-stick coating and the FDA-compliant TNSF non-stick coating, visit magnaplate.com/coatings/magnaplate-tns-and-tnsf.

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In the productivity-driven packaging world, there are many possible sources of downtime. Surface enhancement coatings can help you eliminate them—ensuring your packaging machines run smoothly.  Watch this new video to learn more about our coating solutions for packaging equipment.

Thanks to engineered coatings, lightweight aluminum alloys can withstand corrosion, wear and thermal extremes—making them a compelling alternative to heavier metals in aerospace applications. A20X™ aluminium castings, in particular, are currently opening up new opportunities for flight-critical components. For one, they reduce machine complexity, machining and assembly. Converting parts to A20X™ castings also reduces weight and costs.

With the help of AptiMag-X™, our new engineered coating for A20X™ aluminum, aerospace components can better hold up to the often-harsh demands of their operating environment. Let’s take a closer look at this new surface enhancement process:

The World’s Strongest Aluminum Casting Alloy

Thanks to its aluminum copper base and the addition of intermetallic titanium diboride, A20X™ features an ultra-fine microstructure and unique solidification mechanism. As a result, it boasts exceptional strength, fatigue and thermal properties—making A20X™ castings a viable solution for structural parts and engine components in high-strength, high-temperature environments.

In fact, with strength properties comparable to 7000 series wrought material, A20X™ is currently the strongest cast aluminium alloy on the market.

AptiMag-X™ Further Improves A20X™ Properties

General Magnaplate recently signed an exclusive license agreement, making us the exclusive supplier of AptiMag-X™. This new surface enhancement coating will further enhance A20X™ parts by improving their wear resistance, hardening and finish.

As part of this agreement, all licensed A20X™ foundries, additive manufacturing companies and aerospace customers can have their parts treated with AptiMag-X™ at our New Jersey and Texas plants.

In a new white paper, we explore the ways engineered coatings keep your automated machinery running smoothly—increasing your throughput and helping you maintain cost-effective, round-the-clock operations. The following examples illustrate how you can apply our proprietary coatings to solve specific issues across a variety of industries.

Sticky Products in Food Processing. For one cereal manufacturer, fruity sugar was sticking to a machine chute—causing cereal grains to back up onto conveyors and requiring a lengthy sanitation process. General Magnaplate applied NEDOX® to the chute, which eased product flow and minimized cleanup.

Abrasion in Consumer Goods. One facial tissue manufacturer experienced abrasion on the surfaces of its wrapping and folding machine—resulting in unsightly bubbles and misplaced labels on finished packages. MAGNAPLATE HCR® was chosen for the machine’s aluminum folding plates, fortifying the parts with an ultra-hard, corrosion-resistant and nonstick surface.

Abrasive Wear in Packaging. A diaper manufacturer experienced slow packaging speeds due to worn-out product chutes. The machine arm scraped against the chute’s sides and bottom, depositing material onto the equipment and creating friction. To resolve this issue, PLASMADIZE® was applied to the chute’s bottom and sides.

Mold Release in Pharmaceutical. One pharmaceutical packaging company prepares thermoformed plastic sheets with multiple cavities for individual tablets and capsules. After the cavities are filled and sealed, a machine cuts the sheets into strips and then packages them for use. Films, however, stuck to the aluminum tooling after thermoforming. General Magnaplate selected NEDOX® to impart dry lubrication and create a dense, nonporous surface that would help eliminate mold and bacteria growth.

To learn more, download our latest white paper.

To reap the benefits of automation, your equipment—from robotic systems to packaging machinery—must continue running at high speeds. For this reason, it’s important to identify and mitigate troublesome issues like abrasion, premature wear, corrosion and sticking. One way to overcome these challenges is by using engineered coatings.

In a new white paper, we explore how these coatings work, as well as the ways they solve common performance problems in high-speed automation applications:

Overcoming Common Machine Problems

Engineered coatings permanently enhance the surface of metals and other substrates used in automated machinery to solve corrosion, wear, lubrication and release problems. For example, sticking is a common problem in heat-sealing equipment. As polyethylene film strips melt together to seal a package, the melted material and adhesive glues can stick to seal bars. In robotic systems, metal-on-metal contact between steel parts running at high speeds also creates tremendous friction forces—leading to premature wear.

To solve these and other challenges, General Magnaplate has developed custom coating processes. For example:

• NEDOX® is a nickel alloy-based coating that protects aluminum and other metals against wear, corrosion, sticking and galling. Within the NEDOX® group are several options that use various polymers to impart specific properties, such as enhanced hardness, superior mold release or easy release at high temperatures.
• The TUFRAM® line for aluminum and aluminum alloys also features a range of formulas suited to a variety of applications.
• GOLDENEDGE® keeps cutting surfaces sharp and extends their life up to 20 times. This coating formula may be used alongside other coating families.

To learn more about our engineered coatings in automation applications, download our latest white paper.

To maintain your plant equipment and keep production processes online, it’s important to continually identify and mitigate issues involving abrasion, premature wear, corrosion and sticking. Surface enhancement coatings, which play a big role in plant maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), overcome these challenges easily.

Let’s take a look at a few coating examples:

NEDOX®. This coating family is a nickel alloy-based coating that protects most metals, including aluminum, against wear, corrosion, sticking and galling. Within the NEDOX® group are several options that use various polymers to impart specific properties, such as enhanced hardness, superior mold release and easy release at high temperatures.

TUFRAM®. This line for aluminum and aluminum alloys also features a range of formulas that fit a variety of MRO applications. TUFRAM® resists corrosion, reduces friction, improves hardness and replaces more expensive substrates like steel or stainless steel.

LECTROFLUOR®. Widely used for MRO, this polymer-based coating prevents severe corrosion and chemical attack in metals deployed in harsh environments.

PLASMADIZE®. This enhanced thermal spray composite protects and restores metal parts and features increased lubricity and better mold release than conventional spray methods.

It’s important to note that many variations of our four coating families comply with USDA, FDA and other global standards and are widely used in maintenance and repair operations to extend equipment life and return worn parts to active service. These and other specialized coatings are regularly employed to delay the purchase of new equipment.

To learn more, download our latest white paper.

Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) can help you keep your equipment online—minimizing plant downtime. There are many approaches to MRO, but one that can be overlooked is using protective surface coatings to extend component lifetimes. This simple solution delays the purchase of new machinery and leads to significant cost savings.

In a new white paper, we explore how engineered coatings can enhance your MRO activities:

Your First Line of Defense

Prolonging equipment life starts with protecting parts from wear, abrasion and corrosion. You can apply engineered coatings—like the ones General Magnaplate provides—as a first line of defense against these forces. And best of all, you can use these coatings in a wide range of industries, including:

• Food processing
• Medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing
• Oil and gas exploration
• Consumer goods

Balancing Cost and Environmental Concerns

Engineered coatings fortify the surface of metals and other substrates—turning your inexpensive metal parts into super hard, dry lubricated and chemical resistant components that last longer and are more cost-effective than components made of expensive, rare metals. For companies with environmental sustainability targets, it makes sense to use coatings to enhance common metals rather than using costly base metals that are difficult to mine and process.

In addition, the newly engineered surfaces meet or exceed the performance characteristics provided by the base metals—reducing your need to use expensive, scarce or environmentally hazardous metals like chromium, cobalt, cadmium and manganese. Coatings even comply with strict global health and environmental regulations like FDA and USDA codes.

To learn more about the role of engineered coatings in MRO, download our latest white paper.

Magnesium alloys, which are gaining popularity in the aerospace industry, must be able to withstand very harsh conditions. The right surface enhancement coating can help. In addition to handling thermal extremes, preventing outgassing and minimizing friction, your magnesium coating should come from a Nadcap-certified supplier—ensuring it’s passed stringent quality requirements for use in demanding aerospace applications.

An example of a coating that fits the bill is MAGNADIZE®, which provides superior protection for magnesium parts. Let’s take a closer look at what this coating brings to the table:

MAGNADIZE® Prevents Wear, Outgassing And More

Magnesium alloys are popular thanks to their high strength-to-weight ratio, dimensional stability and low density, which is roughly one-quarter that of steel and two-thirds that of aluminum. As a result of these properties, these alloys can drastically reduce the weight of aircraft, which in turn reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. At the same time, lighter magnesium alloys are more susceptible to corrosion, galling and wear if left uncoated.

MAGNADIZE® overcomes these challenges. This proprietary coating—which meets Mil-M-45202 and AMS-2476 requirements—uses supplementary polymers or dry film lubricants to protect against wear and prevent outgassing. It also surpasses other current methods of magnesium treatment, such as magnesium anodizing or HAE anodizing, when it comes to preventing oxidation. Other technical advantages of MAGNADIZE® include:

Wide operating temperature range. Aerospace components have to endure high heat and extreme cold. MAGNADIZE® features a wide operating temperature range of -100° to +550°F—ensuring surface protection in the harsh vacuum and low temperatures of outer space.

Low coefficients of friction. One way to reduce friction is to apply grease or oil to components. This method, however, requires routine maintenance and can release harmful particulates into the atmosphere. MAGNADIZE® offers an eco-friendly, permanent solution that boasts coefficients of friction as low as 0.05.

Galling prevention. Metal galling, caused by adhesion between sliding metal surfaces, is a common industry challenge that causes parts to self-generate an oxide surface film. MAGNADIZE® avoids this form of wear by creating hard, fracture-free surfaces that prevent hydrogen absorption from occurring between the metals.

The Advantages Of Nadcap Accreditation

Significantly, General Magnaplate is Nadcap-certified. Nadcap, a worldwide cooperative program of companies, manages a cost-effective consensus approach to special processes and products within the aerospace industry. Certified since 2011, the accreditation ensures the competency, capability and consistency of our manufacturing processes and ensures our coatings, including MAGNADIZE®, meet the highest possible quality standards for use in aerospace.

To learn more about MAGNADIZE®, visit: http://www.magnaplate.com/coatings/magnadize.

You know us best for our advanced surface enhancement technologies. But did you know that we also offer “basic” versions of our most popular surface treatments? Our basic treatments are applied to the same exacting quality standards as our flagship technologies. Watch our new video to learn more.

Nature’s Kick Honeystix is an Oregon-based company that manufactures Honeystix—hermetically sealed poly tubes filled with all-natural honey. Over 700 million units have been consumed worldwide since Glenn Peters, CEO, founded the company in 1980. Although today the company is enjoying its sweet success, the manufacturing process was not always without its challenges. To prevent wear from affecting one of its machines, operators were applying a non-stick fiber tape to the parts. But the high heat of the machinery was causing the tape to melt off—halting the production process.

That’s when Peters turned to General Magnaplate Corporation for a solution. Here’s how applying TUFRAM HTR® to the machine parts boosted the productivity of the Honeystix operation.

Manufacturing The Candy Of The Future

Nature’s Kick Honeystix mass-produces its environmentally friendly, honey-filled poly tubes using a patented manufacturing process and machinery that Peters first developed in 1982. The resin Honeystix uses for its packaging is environmentally safe: it is photosensitive to ultraviolet light and can be burned with nontoxic smoke—just like paraffin wax. It is also completely recyclable, BPA-free and Kosher-certified.

Today, the facility produces over 300,000 Honeystix daily. First, machines warm the honey to help it flow better. Then they transfer the honey, via pumps, to the environmentally-safe tubing. After that, patented sealing and cutting blades cut and heat-seal the sticks. To prevent these blades from wearing down, however, operators were gluing non-stick fiber tape to the edges of each blade. But over time, the tape would slowly wear away and sometimes compromise the seals.

TUFRAM® To The Rescue

Peters needed a metal coating that could protect the aluminum blades from wear while also standing up to the high heat of the machines. After consulting with our technical sales team, he opted to have the blades coated with TUFRAM HTR®—an engineered coating that makes aluminum surfaces harder than steel. It also imparts permanent lubricity with previously unattainable levels of wear and corrosion resistance.

Applying TUFRAM® to the blades provided three major benefits:

• A great insulator, it protects the machine’s electronics from short circuiting.
• Because it’s slippery, it prevents the honey from sticking.
• It also resists heat—making it 10 times more reliable than the tape.

A Sweet Boost In Productivity

Since coating the blades with TUFRAM HTR®, Nature’s Kick Honeystix significantly reduced factory downtime. Previously, operators had to frequently stop the machines to replace blades that had worn down or re-apply the non-stick tape that had fallen or melted off. In fact, thanks to this coating, the Honeystix plant has increased its production by over 30 percent.

To learn more, download our latest case study.

Air-moving equipment used in oil and gas exploration is particularly susceptible to corrosion damage. Whether the cause is prolonged exposure to salt or corrosive gases, the result is equipment with significantly shorter lifespans. Our NEDOX® coatings overcome these challenges by providing harder-than-steel, corrosion-resistant surfaces on turbo compressors, compressor heads, impellers, blades, vanes—and more.

Let’s take a closer look at how one of our NEDOX® variants recently improved the performance and lifespan of pump impellers:

Rusting Impellers In Need Of Surface Protection. In a recent application, an oil and gas company was experiencing challenges related to its pump equipment and the harsh operating environment of the Gulf Coast. Specifically, the salt and humidity were causing the company’s impellers to rust. Previous coatings had failed after a year, and so the company consulted General Magnaplate to find a longer-lasting solution.

Our technical sales team recommended NEDOX 10K3®, a surface enhancement process that holds up particularly well in tough oil and gas applications. We coated the impeller surfaces with thicknesses between 0.0015 to 0.002 inches—successfully protecting it from corrosion despite the ongoing exposure to salt and moisture.

NEDOX® For Oil And Gas. For use on almost any metal, NEDOX® coatings are well-suited for chemically corrosive environments. They are also highly resistant to salt spray, showing little or no corrosion after 14 months of continuous exposure to salt water. Thanks to these features, NEDOX® significantly increases the lifespan of equipment used in oil, gas and energy applications—enabling it to tolerate often-rigorous operating conditions and withstand common industry threats, including wear, corrosion, galling and seizing.

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Plasmadize® is General Magnaplate’s synergistic thermal spray, that includes polymer infusion. When applied, it mechanically bonds to the substrate material, altering its surface properties. Watch our new video to learn more about Plasmadize's variety of technical advantages.

When it comes to bulk solids metering and handling machines, metal coatings play a crucial role. For one, they help reduce friction on metal feeders and prevent sticking. They also protect feeder components from wear. Certain materials, such as metallic powders, oxides and silica-type ingredients, are abrasive—leading to premature wear, part replacement and costly downtime.

Bear in mind, however, that some coatings are better than others. The right coating not only provides the necessary protection but also meets the proper compliances. Here’s a rundown of what you should look for:

• Low coefficient of friction reduces metering errors. Metering, which involves proportioning, blending and hoppering of dry solid ingredients by volume or weight, requires accuracy. Coatings should have a low coefficient of friction, preventing adhesive materials and even dust from sticking to machine parts. Doing so reduces metering errors, which has vast cost implications for companies that use expensive dry solid materials. LECTROFLUOR® coatings help improve sticking issues by providing excellent release properties.
• Meeting federal standards alleviates compliance concerns. Each industry has its own set of unique requirements and federal standards—and coatings need to be in compliance with them. Many of our smart coatings already meet strict FDA and USDA standards, giving them the edge over chrome in food and pharmaceutical applications.
• Corrosion resistance avoids adverse chemical reactions. Materials like chlorides can react with a variety of metals, including stainless-steel, causing corrosion or contamination of handling equipment. For many chemical manufacturing companies, this can be a real concern. TUFRAM® and NEDOX® coatings are designed to resist most common chemicals and salt spray—even after prolonged, continuous exposure.
• Coatings prevent wear. Feeders and other machines are expected to operate on a grueling 24/7 schedule with near-zero maintenance requirements and downtime. The right coating protects components from premature wear, ensuring you don’t have to stop production just to replace a part. For increased wear resistance, coatings like TUFRAM®, NEDOX® and PLASMADIZE® are great options.

In addition to dry bulk solids, you can even use our coatings to treat surfaces that handle molasses-like ingredients. For example, a company that specializes in producing animal feed recently utilized NEDOX® to enhance its manufacturing process. Molasses, which acts as a binder for the feed, was sticking to the mixing equipment. But thanks to its superior release properties and abrasion resistance, our NEDOX 10K-3® coating overcame these issues—preventing sticking and protecting equipment from additional wear.

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Abrasive materials used in some manufacturing processes can create surface imperfections in your tools, leading to troublesome production delays. For example, a company that provides custom profile extrusions was experiencing frequent downtime because raw plastics were scratching its aluminum dies, causing the operators to constantly halt the operation for polishing.

Problems like this can be easily overcome using engineered coatings, such as TUFRAM. Here's how this extrusion company was able to elevate the surface finish quality of its aluminum dies to that of steel-doubling die life, decreasing downtime and increasing overall productivity.

Aluminum Die Blocks Required Polishing By Hand The company uses nine extruders to produce hundreds of plastic shapes, ranging from 0.25 to 14 inches wide and up to 10 inches in diameter. Because of this variety, the company designs roughly 150 new sizing blocks each year and supplies these extrusions to many high-profile companies in the automotive and electronics industries.

Each plastic profile that emerges from an extruder should have an unmarred finish, but the raw plastics were scratching the aluminum sizing blocks during the extrusion process. Operators would have to stop the process in order to repolish the tools by hand with an emery cloth. These frequent delays had a negative impact on both production throughput and cost.

TUFRAM Enhances Aluminum Surfaces The company found a solution in our TUFRAM® engineered coating, which imparts hardness levels between Rc 40 and 65 to aluminum surfaces. The coating also protects against scratches, blemishes, marks and scoring and performs like case-hardened steel and hard chrome plating during Taber abrasion tests. Here's what happened once engineers applied TUFRAM to the aluminum extrusion dies:

• Longer die life. Thanks to TUFRAM, the company doubled the wear life of its dies-leading to an increase in overall productivity.
• Shortened tool preparation time. Coated tools were better equipped to survive storage in-between runs and were ready for reuse with minimal preparation. Previously, when taking uncoated tools out of storage, personnel had to clean and polish the surfaces to eliminate dust and residue.
• Increased confidence. Personnel no longer worried about the dies scratching their tools and parts, and instead focused their efforts on producing high-quality profiles run to run.
• Increased productivity. Because the extrusion operation ran more smoothly, overall productivity increased and downtime decreased.

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Two things make it difficult for machine builders in the pharmaceutical industry to use engineered coatings. First, many coatings in product-contact applications don’t meet FDA standards. And second, many coatings, even those that are FDA-compliant, are not available in other parts of the world—making international expansion difficult.

Nedox and Tufram overcome both challenges. Not only are they FDA-compliant, but they are also accessible worldwide. Here’s how Elizabeth-Hata, a leading manufacturer of tablet presses, recently used these coatings in its Eliza-Press rotary tableting machine.

FDA Compliance. Because Nedox® and Tufram® are FDA-compliant, Elizabeth-Hata used them to coat the aluminum and stainless-steel parts of its rotary press machine, which compresses powdered pharmaceuticals into tablets at pressures up to 20 tons. The coated parts, which include a powder feeder, scrapers and turrets, routinely come into contact with products and are particularly susceptible to wear.

• Tufram HO. To coat the feeder, scrapers, deck plates and other aluminum parts, engineers utilized Tufram HO. This coating creates a dry-lubricated surface with hardness levels between 40 and 50 Rc—protecting parts from wear, corrosion, sticking and galling. Tufram HO also provides good release properties relative to the powder.

• Nedox SF-2. To protect the stainless-steel turret that holds the die and punches from wear and corrosion, engineers used Nedox SF-2. With its wide operating temperature (-250° to +550°F), surface hardness up to Rc 68, chemical, acid and alkaline resistance and self-lubricating surface characteristics, it also exceeds the physical properties of many other common industry coatings.

Global Availability. Not only are Nedox and Tufram FDA-compliant, but they are also accessible worldwide—making international growth not just a possibility, but a reality. After expanding its manufacturing operations to India in 2008, Elizabeth-Hata required technologies that were available regardless of manufacturing location. This need factored into the company’s coating selections, as General Magnaplate has licensed its coatings to partners around the world.

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Product residue clinging to machine parts is a common problem for many industries, including defense. One way to eliminate this problem is by using an engineered coating that provides release, such as Nedox 605. Engineers recently applied this coating to a defense system’s rotating mandrel, preventing troublesome residue from clinging to the parts during cleanup.

Removing Mandrel Resin. In a recent defense application, glass or carbon filament is wound, under tension, onto a rotating mandrel. The mandrel is part of an air defense guided missile system. During the winding process, a carrier filled with resin travels horizontally along the mandrel, impregnating the fibers. Once the mandrel is coated to the correct thickness, the resin is cured by either air or oven.

However, engineers realized that it was difficult to remove the sticky, excess resin from unwanted areas of the mandrel shafts after it had been cured. To solve this, they used Nedox 605. When applied, the coating provided the necessary release, allowing the engineers to easily clean the shafts at the end of the winding process.

Technical Advantages. Nedox 605 is a modified electroless nickel process that is impregnated with a proprietary polymer. The polymer provides exceptional release, as well as corrosion and wear resistance in temperatures up to 525°F (or 280°C). For these reasons, Nedox takes the place of more commonly used release coatings, leading to faster throughput and less production downtime. In addition to defense applications, it also prevents residue from clinging to machine parts in:

• Aerospace tooling
• Molds
• Conformal coating fixtures (electronics)
• Hoppers (food production)

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Smart coating solutions®, like Nedox NH-2, can protect your metal parts from corrosion and chemical attack in all kinds of hostile environments—including the world’s largest swimming pool.

At NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), astronauts practice their future spacewalking missions for the International Space Station in a pool that measures 202 feet long, 101 feet wide and 40 feet deep, holding 6.2 million gallons of warm, chlorinated water.

To simulate microgravity, scientists adjust the weight of the spacesuits until they become naturally buoyant in the water. The problem was, however, that the suits’ metallic locking mechanisms were in constant contact with the chlorinated water, causing them to corrode. To overcome this challenge, engineers contacted General Magnaplate. The company applied Nedox NH-2 to the metal locks—successfully protecting them from the harmful effects of the water.

Technical Benefits. When it comes to corrosion protection, Nedox NH-2 performs better than other common industry coatings, including nickel plating, electroless nickel plating, co-dep electroless nickel and polymer-impregnated electroless nickel. For that matter, engineered coatings like Nedox NH-2 create harder-than-steel, permanently dry lubricated metal surfaces that resist corrosion, friction, stick-slip and galling.

In addition to aerospace applications, Nedox NH-2 performs well in chemically corrosive environments, including wash-down and uranium-enrichment applications with UF6 exposure. Nedox is also highly resistant to salt environments. For example, a 0.001" coating shows little or no corrosion after 14 months of continuous exposure to atmosphere and saltwater.

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Aerospace and airframe manufacturers know how difficult it is to design components that can withstand extreme environments while providing corrosion and wear protection. Making things even more complicated is the need to comply with international standards, such as REACH. While engineers favor composites, aluminum, titanium and magnesium for their light weight, most of these metals are highly susceptible to corrosion if left unprotected.

Here’s how applying synergistic surface enhancement coatings can address and overcome these challenges:

Reducing hazardous waste. More and more companies are looking for alternative solutions to chromium, cadmium and other heavy metals, which release harmful toxins into the air while undergoing certain surface finishing processes. When applied to metal surfaces, however, REACH-compliant synergistic coatings impart low friction, as well as corrosion and wear resistance—the same superior properties that once made chromic acid and cyanide plating processes so appealing.

Resisting corrosion. Synergistic coatings create harder-than-steel, permanently dry lubricated metal surfaces that are designed to resist corrosion. Magnaplate HCR® for aluminum, for example, can withstand salt spray exposure in excess of 15,000 hours—that’s 44 times the MIL-SPEC requirement of 336 hours. As a result, aluminum can easily replace more expensive substrates like ferrous alloys while offering ease in machining.

Minimizing friction. Metal galling is a common problem that affects smaller components like aircraft bearings or the joints and drive shaft of titanium core sample drill tubes. While one option is to apply grease or oil, companies are looking to avoid liquid lubrication that requires time-consuming and costly reapplication. Synergistic coatings offer an eco-friendly, permanent solution, boasting coefficients of friction as low as 0.05.

Enduring extreme temperatures. Aerospace components must be able to withstand both high heat and extreme cold while still operating with total reliability. Synergistic coatings feature wide temperature ranges, ensuring surface protection in a variety of thermal environments, including the harsh vacuum and low temperatures of outer space. Plasmadize®, for example, boasts an impressive operating range of -200° to 1,300°F.

Download the White Paper

With chrome increasingly under pressure for health and environmental concerns, more and more companies are looking for inexpensive, yet effective chrome replacement solutions, particularly in the food packaging, oil, gas and aerospace industries.

The Nedox family of coatings is that solution. These coatings aren’t just a chrome replacement—they’re an upgrade. When applied to most metal alloys, including aluminum, they enable components to outperform and outwear chrome, all while maintaining compliance with a number of important standards.

From Dry Goods To Outer Space. Compliance with FDA, USDA and REACH standards makes Nedox an advantageous solution for food and pharmaceutical applications. They are also used on processing, packaging and handling equipment to prevent product residue from clinging to machinery. Nedox’s dense, non-porous surface stands up to washdown solutions, facilitating quicker equipment cleanup and sanitation maintenance. Nedox, with the addition of our MAGnanoSHIELD® antimicrobial surface enhancement, helps eliminate the potential growth of mold and bacteria.

Nedox is also currently gaining ground in many bulk processing industries, such as dry goods factories, which used to extensively employ chrome in their equipment. Nedox is also suitable for harsher, more abrasive environments. It was recently used, for example, to coat the actuators on the International Space Station, providing them with superior lubricity and hardness levels that could withstand the harsh conditions of space.

Technical Advantages. While maintaining international compliance, Nedox can replace and ultimately exceed chrome for its range of technical benefits, including:

• Wear resistance. Nedox achieves hardnesses of up to Rc 68 without any degradation of fatigue strength. Unlike chrome, it also eliminates the likelihood of galling or seizing.
• Corrosion resistance. Nedox boasts superior corrosion resistance to chromium or standard electrolytic-nickel plated coatings. A 0.001” coating, for example, shows little to no corrosion after 14 months of continuous exposure to atmosphere and salt water.
• Low friction. Surfaces treated with Nedox are smooth and slippery. The coating eliminates “stick-slip” and undesirable vibration of higher break-away friction.

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Galling can be a problem whenever you have metallic components in sliding contact with each other. So this type of wear often affects rotational motion devices, ball valves and other industrial machine components. One of the best ways to solve this expensive problem is to use a coating that imparts a smooth finish, eliminating the factors that lead to galling. That’s where Magnaplate HMF comes in.

In addition to leaving a smooth finish, this coating provides many technical advantages, such as a very low coefficient of friction, improved surface hardness and corrosion resistance, making it a smart coating alternative compared to chrome and bright nickel coatings.

Minimizing Friction. The purpose of Magnaplate HMF is to create a mirror-surface with an Ra of 4 microinches that produces a very low coefficient of friction of 0.03. When applied to ferrous metal, copper or aluminum alloys, it changes the topography of the substrate, resulting in a smooth, slippery surface that prevents galling and seizing. The resulting surface finish will be dependent on the Ra of the part. For the best results, consult with the Magnaplate technical team.

For these reasons, HMF is increasingly being used in ball valve applications where having a low coefficient of friction is critical. In one recent example, HMF was applied to the stainless steel ball portion of a valve containing a powdered metal seat. The coating successfully eliminated galling that could result in premature wear, leaking or valve failure. In addition, the coating raised the operating temperature of the valve to over 200°F, extending both the active life and shelf life of the valve by 50 percent.

Other Technical Advantages. In addition to minimizing friction, HMF provides surfaces with permanent lubricity, improved surface hardness with a Rockwell rating of up to Rc 68, abrasion resistance and protection against corrosion and common solvents. It is also electrically conductive and exceeds 336 hours of salt spray testing per ASTM B-117.

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Lectrofluor® is a polymer-based coating that protects metals from corrosion and chemical attack in all kinds of hostile environments. Compared to other corrosion-resistant coatings, Lectrofluor provides some compelling technical advantages. Watch our video to learn more about how Lectrofluor's superior properties will work for your application.

For reliable mold release under high load bearing pressures up to 100,000 psi, choose our Magnaplate HTR® coating. HTR increases the release efficiency of steel, copper, brass, aluminum and other metals used in the fabrication of molds and dies for a wide range of industries.

This unique surface enhancement coating creates a permanent, non-stick surface that exhibits a low coefficient of friction. When used with one of our various families of coatings, HTR is fully customizable and can be modified to meet your application’s thermal and electrical conductivity. In addition, the coating is great for applications like injection and blow molds, gears and bearings, seal bars and dies, bag formers and tablet punches.

Technical advantages include:

• Seal dies at 800°F
• Roll dies at 650°F
• Chrome replacements at 800°F
• Spindle heads and slides at 600°F
• Blow molds at 550°F

Excellent wear resistance. Worn or damaged molds are often the cause of poor release. HTR’s superior resistance to wear makes it ideal for use in plastic and other molding industry applications where mold design or definition is subject to abrasive damage by the molding of the material.

Because HTR maintains a uniform, consistent level of thermal conductivity, it also solves release problems that stem from variations in mold surface temperatures. The use of HTR is also recommended for instances where sprays, release additives or other forms of paint-on or sprayed-on dry lubricant coatings don’t perform correctly.

Application examples. HTR is used in a wide range of applications spanning many industries. Below are some examples:

• An injection molding company makes a polypropylene part with a 0.750” diameter and a 5” long core with a zero degree draft angle. A mold release had to be sprayed on the core every 10 cycles to help the parts harden on the core. After treating the core with HTR, more than 20,000 cycles were completed before they had to reapply the release spray.
• One aerospace company used HTR to coat a mold cavity set for release at high temperatures. They were molding Polyimid plastic with carbon fiber at 400°C. The finished part is used as an insulator for an aircraft braking system.
•  A pool chemical manufacturer needed a coating for a tablet punch that operates at room temperature. The company tried other coatings that either didn’t offer enough release, or were too thick and hid the marking on the punch. This company now uses HTR for coating their tablet punches.

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Specialized coatings play a crucial role in protecting machine components and increasing uptime across a wide spectrum of industries, ranging from packaging and food processing to aerospace and rubber molding. If your application needs a coating for high temperatures up to 1000°F, consider our Magnaplate 10K™ series.

Magnaplate 10K™ For High Temperatures. Before the introduction of Magnaplate 10K™, coatings from major suppliers provided mold release for temperatures up to 450°F. However, end users were constantly requesting release coatings for handling temperatures up to 1,000°F. In response, we developed three formulations of the 10K™ series:

• 10K1: A solvent-based formula that withstands temperatures to 1,000°F
• 10K2: A water-based formula that withstands temperatures to 1,000°F
• 10K3: A solvent-based formula that withstands temperatures to 850°F

These coatings also have a low coefficient of friction (COF), retain their properties at high temperatures and provide easy mold and die release at high temperatures. Other technical features include:

• Low surface energy
• High water repellency
• Anti-stick, easy-to-clean surfaces
• No fluoropolymers or PFOAs
• No degrading at high temperatures
• FDA-compliant to Title 21 CFR175.300
• Corrosion protection

Applications. The 10K™ family can be used along with many of our coating families like Nedox®, Tufram® and Plasmadize®. Typical applications for 10K™ coatings are found across a variety of industries that require a quick-release coating or corrosion protection and chemical resistance, Including packaging, food processing, aerospace, oil and gas, power generation, plastics and rubber molding.

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Communicating early with your coating vendor to discuss base metal choices can limit issues later in the design process—especially if your part has tight tolerances. Deformation can occur if application surface loads are high, and coating process or post-process temperatures can often exceed the substrate heat treatment’s recommended operating temperatures. In addition to deformation, some metals suffer from structural stability issues where the part moves or changes size.

Avoid hydrogen embrittlement. When considering high strength alloys or other materials such as titanium or tool steels, part designers should be aware of hydrogen embrittlement that can cause parts to crack and fail under loads. During the cleaning process—which often involves acidic materials—some alloys impart hydrogen to the surface of the metal, causing embrittlement. If the coating vendor knows this, they can perform specialized procedures to the part after coating, or use alternative cleaning processes to expel the hydrogen from the surface to avoid the issue.

Engineers sometimes design a part that incorporates more than one material. In this case, the part may not be conducive to plating surface treatments because the cleaning methods before coating differ with each type of metal. For example, one cleaning process can activate the surface of a given metal for coating, while passivating the surface of the second material.

Adhesion issues. If you can’t coat both surfaces at the same time, you’ll need special masking, which will drive up the cost up due to its labor intensive nature. Adhesion issues on the boundary areas between the two metals also occur, and there may be a galvanic reaction between the two materials when you expose them to electrolytes. This can create corrosion of one of the base materials.

In addition, if the base metal of the part is hard, it can cause surface tensions that prevent a strong adhesion between the base material and coating. A bad bond between the part and coating will lead to chipping of the coating. Keeping coatings thin and paying special attention to surface preparation can help avoid this problem.

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An enhanced titanium nitride physical vapor deposition coating (PVD) for extreme wear and tight tolerances, Magnagold® resists wear and abrasion up to 20 times better than stainless steel. This coating—used for applications with extreme wear and tight tolerances—provides metals with a hard, smooth surface and a rich, gold color without causing distortion or loss of hardness.

Technical advantages. Magnagold exceeds the physical properties of common vacuum deposition coatings like titanium nitride, PVD and CVD. With a thicknesses between 0.00004” and 0.0003” (1 to 7.5 microns), this coating also has an operating temperature range from -360°F (-218°C) to 800°F °(427°C), hardness up to an equivalent of Rc 85 and a dimensional accuracy of ± 0.00004 inches.

Other properties include:

• Meets AMS 2444
• Resistant to most acids, alkalis, fluxes, solder and weld spatter
• USDA and FDA compliance
• Processing temperatures as low as 400°F (204°C)
• Excellent chemical resistance

Magnagold for longer life. One manufacturer that develops custom bearing solutions for delivering maintenance-free, high-performance products used Magnagold to triple the life of one of its crimping tools. This tool is used to crimp a retainer onto the bearings that hold the assembly together, a process that’s central to the company’s self-clinching products. On average, the machine tooling would fail every 200,000 pieces.

The company has several machines in its facility, and these failures would cost the company thousands of dollars for each failure. To deal with these failures on hardened tool steel, we suggested they coat a sample part with Magnagold. The first part coated with Magnagold crimped more than 500,000 assemblies without having to service—or even polish—the tool once. Because of the positive results of coating this tool, the company decided to coat all crimping tools with Magnagold.

Applications. Magnagold is used in a wide range of applications, including:

• Forming tools
• Drills
• Extrusion dies
• Punches
• Wear rings
• Hobs
• Bushings
• Sleeves
• Bits
• HSS tools
• Critical tolerance components requiring extended wear life

Download our white paper that shows the benefits of Magnagold.

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Titanium is often susceptible to hydrogen pickup or embrittlement. For applications that experience this issue, we’ve created a coating that focuses on preventing hydrogen absorption.

Better Than Titanium Anodizing. Our Canadize® coating lowers the coefficient of friction of titanium substrates and prevents hydrogen embrittlement. When compared to other common industry processes like titanium anodizing, this coating has better technical features, including:

• An operating temperature range from -200 to 1200°F
• Coating thicknesses from 0.0001 to 0.0006 inches
• A hardness of Rc 45
• AMS 2488 requirements
• Excellent heat transfer
• High fatigue strength
• Chemical and corrosion protection

Surfaces coated with Canadize® can successfully solve wear, friction, galling, seizing, moisture and corrosion problems in a broad spectrum of applications involving titanium and its alloys. Through predetermined time and current control, a hard ceramic surface is formed.

Application Examples. Canadize® has been successfully applied to applications in aerospace, manufacturing and packaging equipment, construction, power tool applications. Here are two examples of times when this coating solved engineering problems:

• A variety of metal parts used in the manufacture of sealed reagent kits for chemical testing were coated with Canadize® to provide chemical resistance and increase the service life of the manufacturing equipment.
• Galling and seizing compromised valves in pressure vessels and piping systems controlling the flow of LP gas and anhydrous ammonia. With its anti-galling and anti- seizing properties, our Canadize® coatings solved the problem and eliminated a potentially dangerous situation.

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Too often, design engineers look at coating parts as an afterthought. Rather than being part of the discussion in the early stages of design, engineers sometimes try to solve problems with coatings during—or even after—manufacturing. While surface treatments such as anodizing, electroplating and thermal spray provide their own unique set of properties and benefits, these processes also have limitations that demand attention early in the design process to ensure optimal performance.

Engineers often look to extend the life of equipment by protecting parts from wear and abrasion. Protective coatings not only guard these parts against these issues, but also provide lubrication and increase structural integrity. Using the right surface treatment can increase a part’s lifespan, cut downtime and reduce overhead.

Key factors affecting surface treatment worth noting at the outset of the design process are:

• Process limitations
• Choice of base metal
• Part configuration and design
• Surface finish

Engineers risk lengthening product cycle times by not making surface treatment discussions a primary consideration early in the design process. By doing this, they risk specifying a treatment that cannot be completed due to the design properties of the part in question. Download our white paper to learn more.

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By offering superior protection against wear, friction and corrosion, Nedox® can help less durable metals achieve the longevity and performance of chrome and stainless steel. Watch our new video to learn more.

Tufram® coatings for aluminum far outperform conventional hard anodizing and similar processes when it comes to corrosion resistance, friction reduction and hardness. Watch our new video to learn more.

Antimicrobial materials based on metal complexes have become an effective weapon in the war against the deadly microbes that cause foodborne illnesses, hospital infections and contaminated drugs. Yet these materials have shown a limited ability to deliver microbe resistance as part of a comprehensive surface enhancement treatment–until now.

Our MAGnanoSHIELD® proprietary antimicrobial coating technology minimizes this limitation by offering microbe resistance in conjunction with other beneficial surface properties. This coating technology, which can be incorporated into many of our proven surface-enhancement coatings, allows you to specify a single coating that not only resists microbe growth, but also provides protection against friction, wear, moisture and more.

Other technical advantages include:

• FDA compliance
• Potentially fewer chemical cleaning materials
• Antimicrobial protection that prevents 99.9999% of bacteria and fungus growth
• Potentially reduced maintenance and water usage
• Increased production run times

Nanotechnology fights germs. While most antimicrobial materials today are based on generic formulations of a metal complex, MAGnanoSHIELD employs a proprietary metallic antimicrobial agent. Incorporated as a nanoscale dispersion within a polymer base, MAGnanoSHIELD inhibits the growth of microbes by interfering with DNA replication, damaging cell walls, altering cell membrane permeability or combining with bacterial proteins in ways that disrupt normal cell functions. These biological disruption mechanisms are well known and not unique to MAGnanoSHIELD’s active ingredient.

What does make our new antimicrobial technology unique is that it can be implemented as part of a more broadly useful coating. For example, MAGnanoSHIELD has been successfully combined with our Nedox® coating for use on any non-ferrous and ferrous alloys. It has also been combined with our Tufram® coating for use on aluminum. It is also compatible with our other coating technologies. This ability to combine MAGnanoSHIELD with other coating technologies adds microbe resistance to the long list of surface-enhancing properties we offer.

Applications. MAGnanoSHIELD has successfully been incorporated into coatings that offer low coefficient of friction, hydrophobicity and wear and abrasion resistance. Since it works as an integral part of a broader surface-enhancement coating, MAGnanoSHIELD opens up new application possibilities wherever microorganisms are just part of the problem. These applications are prominent in the following industries:

Medical. The benefits of imparting antimicrobial properties to medical devices, healthcare equipment and imaging machines are obvious. What’s less obvious is that many of these medical applications can additionally benefit from treatments that make them hydrophobic, and thus easier to clean.

Pharmaceutical. Microbe resistance and cleanliness are of paramount importance wherever pharmaceuticals are involved. Pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging machines, which have their share of rotating and sliding components, can also benefit from the increased wear resistance and low friction provided by surface-enhancement coatings.

Food and beverage. MAGnanoSHIELD offers many opportunities to increase food safety while improving the surface characteristics of harvesting, handling, processing and packaging equipment. Food preparation surfaces, including cookware, are another good fit for MAGnanoSHIELD.

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Hard, slick surfaces minimize friction and heat buildup in metal-to-metal applications, improving the wear characteristics of the coated part. One option is applying an engineered coating.

Most polymeric or dry lubricant coating systems have a temperature limitation, since they can only function between 500°C (260°F) and 600°F (316°C). Also, polymers and dry lubricants are not always conducive to environments where particulate generation is undesirable.

For these applications, consider our Nedox PF™ coating. The composite ceramic, nickel alloy composition of Nedox PF lets it operate at temperatures up to 1500°F (816°C) and still maintain low friction and release properties. Some technical features include:

• Excellent wear
• Good corrosion resistance
• Low coefficient of friction without polymers or dry lubricants
• Good release properties without polymers or dry lubricants
• Uniform coating deposition
• Non-shedding and non-outgassing
• Hardness up to 68 Rc

Nedox PF-F Applications. Under the Nedox PF umbrella of coatings, Nedox PF-F is an FDA-compliant coating that provides surfaces with high wear resistance and a low coefficient of friction without using traditional polymers. Nedox PF-F has been successfully used in a wide range of applications. Here are some examples:

• In the nuclear power plant industry, a next generation valve manufacturer experienced binding and excessive torque demand on a ball valve stem operating at 800°F (427°C) and 2,000 psi. They used Nedox PF-F to prevent seizing at elevated temperatures without a forbidden fluorocarbon coating.
• A major defense prime needed to protect a pawl hook for lifting mini-subs from wear in a marine environment. Applying Nedox PF-F provided the hard, slick surface required to prevent premature wear on the device.
• A well-known guitar manufacturer was wearing out a band-bending tool too fast. Nedox PF-F was applied to the tool for extended life and less drag in the bending operation.
• One ceramics manufacturing company needed a long-lasting, wear-resistant coating for their bottom punch. Nedox PF-F reduced drag enough to give a smoother, cleaner punch, while increasing the required tool’s longevity.

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For better corrosion resistance, friction reduction and hardness than standard hard anodizing, our Tufram® family of synergistic coatings are a good choice for aluminum manufacturing, processing and packaging equipment.

Adherence and impact resistance. With a wide operating temperature range from -360 to 800°F depending on the alloy and process, Tufram adheres to most alloys, especially those containing magnesium. Impact resistance is limited by the structural strength of the base metal.

In addition, Tufram’s hardness varies from Rc 40 to 65, depending on the alloy and process chosen. This improves the surface hardness of aluminum to levels comparable to case-hardened steel, and allows aluminum to replace more expensive substrates such as steel or stainless in many applications.

Thanks to proprietary polymers, Tufram’s permanent self-lubricating surfaces reduces surface tension and provides longer wear life, less maintenance and less downtime. Very few solid substances—including adhesives—will permanently adhere to the proprietary polymer-impregnated surface of a Tufram-coated part. Some tacky materials may exhibit mild temporary adhesion.

Other technical advantages include:

• Excellent thermal conductivity
• Low coefficient of friction
• High dielectric strength
• Self-lubricating and non-wetting surface characteristics
• No outgassing

 Reduces friction and corrosion. Tufram coatings are highly resistant to corrosion, as well as acids and alkaline chemicals. Their low coefficient of friction also protects against a variety of abrasive wear mechanisms and galling.

Recently, a manufacturer of book trimming equipment encountered friction and corrosion, as well as ink and glue clean-up problems on the skid plates, infeed and mailer table surfaces of its trimmers. Tufram reduced friction and prevented corrosion, allowing for the quick and easy cleaning of ink and glue.

FDA and USDA compliance. Tufram also meets FDA and USDA standards, making it ideal for food and pharmaceutical processing and packaging, and some medical industry applications. One example involves a creamery that experienced corrosive attack on an ice cream packaging machine’s turntable holding plates. Caustic cleaners caused the aluminum parts to pit and corrode. Applying Tufram to the hold plates helped prevent these issues.use.

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As the food processing industry keeps expanding, food and beverage producers must rely on sophisticated automated equipment to meet consumer demands. Companies that manufacture everything from bakery items and frozen food to meat and poultry products are continuing to specify new equipment and upgrade older machinery.

Meeting the diverse needs of food and beverage manufacturers requires equipment in excellent operating condition that will handle the demands of 24/7 plant schedules and rigorous cleaning routines. Among the many factors that plant engineers, equipment purchasers and those in the MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) community must consider are maximizing sanitation and performance of machine surfaces that interface directly with food products.

Minimize downtime. Engineered smart coatings that enhance and protect metal parts such as cutting blades and cookie molds are essential tools for solving hygiene and performance problems in the food processing industry. These coatings reduce downtime by solving issues such as:

• Pitting and corrosion
• Sticky build-up from sugars
• Batter hang-up
• Messy slitter blades
• Residue on press plates
• Abrasion of forming molds

Food processing regulations. Coatings that come into direct contact with food must meet strict criteria for use. First and foremost, coating formulas need to comply with FDA and USDA codes, or equivalent government standards in countries outside of the United States. Surface hardness levels should extend equipment service life by protecting against corrosion, wear, friction and galling, and when equipment is idle, coating surfaces must remain non-oxidizing even in harsh environments. Another key factor is that sanitation routines must be easy-to-follow, thorough and as environmentally friendly as possible.

To help enable ease of cleaning, surfaces must be dense and non-porous to inhibit bacterial growth. In addition, coated parts should feature non-stick surfaces to prevent product hang-up and ensure fast and efficient mold release. Above all, coatings must not contaminate the foods they have direct contact with, and cutting surfaces such as blades and slicers must remain sharp despite constant use.

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When deciding between coatings, evaluating performance characteristics is a good place to start. Our Tufram® and Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing coatings have similar processes but differing levels of hardness, friction reduction and corrosion resistance.

So which is right for your application? To help you decide whether or not to upgrade your coating, let’s take a look at each.

What’s the difference? While Tufram and Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing do share some similarities, it’s their differences that set them apart. Tufram’s surface hardness falls between 40 and 65 Rc, while the surface hardness of Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing ranges from 60 to 70 HRC in unsealed conditions.

Tufram also comes with a range of proprietary polymers that give the coating a lower coefficient of friction for protection against a wide variety of abrasive wear mechanisms and galling. The coating also reduces stick-slip behavior and vibrations in sliding motion applications. Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing, on the other hand, doesn’t include a polymer, dry lubricant or other materials.

Another advantage of our Tufram coating is its resistance to corrosion, as well as acids and alkaline chemicals. In salt spray testing, for example, Tufram on high strength aluminum exceeds the AMS 2482 requirement of 336 hours, and typically achieves 1000 hours of salt spray resistance. Submersion tests in certain strong acids at 248°F show no effect after more than 170 hours. Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing achieves maximum corrosion resistance of 500 hours in salt spray testing.

In terms of coating thickness, Tufram ranges from 0.0004 to 0.003 inches, while the average thickness of Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing is 0.002 inches.

Which is best? For applications like close tolerance components, vacuum systems requiring non-outgassing components, guide rails and wafer chucks, you want Tufram. For automotive, aerospace and semiconductors, either Tufram or Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing can be used based on application needs and metal performance problems.

In addition, Tufram Basic Hard Anodizing and certain types of Tufram are FDA and USDA compliant, and either is good for food and beverage applications.

Click here to learn more about Tufram.

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When designing parts for coatings, there are some things you’ll want to take into account. Even the most impeccably designed parts sometimes face problems during the coating process. By following a few basic design tips, you can avoid potential issues down the road. Here are some things to consider.

Eliminate Sharp Edges. If possible, you should radius any of your part’s sharp edges to help the coating adhere to more surface area. Should your part require sharp corners, consult with your coating supplier early in the design process to select a more durable coating.

Consider Dimensions And Tolerances. Applying a coating to your part changes its dimensions and tolerances. If these factors are critical to your design, you should keep in mind that your part becomes thicker after the coating is applied, especially if you want threaded holes coated (up to 4x thicker), depending on pitch.

Some parts are subject to line-of-sight process restrictions or require special equipment for processing.

Pay Attention To Racking. It’s important to know how your part will be oriented and supported during racking. If your part is too big and can’t be supported by a small hole, you’ll need to find another solution during design to assure that no areas are left uncoated.

Know Your Geometry. Picking the wrong coating process without considering line-of-sight coating can leave key portions of your part uncoated. To avoid this issue, pay as much attention to your part’s geometry as its mechanical and physical properties.

Avoid Brittle Surfaces.Hydrogen embrittlement sometimes occurs during the cleaning processes of high strength alloys or materials like titanium or tool steels. If your parts are made from hardened materials, inform your coating vendor ahead of time so they can recommend changes to your base material or find alternative cleaning options.

FDA-Compliant Coatings. “Smart coatings” may require baking in an oven. Make sure there is an evacuation hole for heating and chilling rolls.

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Precision liquid dispensing nozzles may seem straightforward, but they come with some hidden design challenges. Chief among these challenges is the ability to maintain high flow rates at low pressures. While it may not be visible to the untrained eye, small improvements to the geometry of the nozzle and its surface characteristics can have a big impact on flow rates.

Subrex, a leading supplier of these nozzles, has mastered the art of refining nozzle geometry to reduce flow restrictions. The company’s standard-gauge and micro-precision nozzles feature thin walls, smooth transitions and a precise exit aperture—all of which contribute to optimize flow.

And now, the company has taken its nozzle performance a step further by applying General Magnaplate’s engineered coatings to improve the lubricity, hardness, release and corrosion resistance of the nozzle surfaces. These coatings include Nedox SLK and NH1, as well as Nedox Basic electroless nickel.

Check out our latest case study to find out how Subrex uses Magnaplate coatings to enhance its liquid dispensing components.

In pharmaceutical packaging applications, our engineered coatings serve many purposes. Not only do they protect machine components, improve sanitation and provide antimicrobial properties, but they can also solve problems relating to release, friction, corrosion, speed and sticking. Here’s how:

• Release. One contract packaging company that produces thermoformed plastic sheets with multiple cavities improved mold release with our Nedox coating. During production, these films sometimes stick to aluminum tooling after being thermoformed. If one of the many cavities on these sheets is ruined, the entire sheet must be discarded. The customer applied Nedox, adding dry lubrication and creating a dense, non-porous surface that also eliminates the potential growth of mold and bacteria.

• Friction. A pharmaceutical packaging supplier uses Magnaplate coatings for reducing friction and providing inert surfaces where chemically-active material could contact equipment components. The company makes fillers for handling irregularly shaped containers. One filler has a reciprocating head that’s timed to move with the conveyor belt so the filling nozzle can enter, fill and leave the container without touching it. For these filler heads, Tufram was applied, allowing the aluminum heads to withstand friction from its moving parts.
• Corrosion. When engineers at another pharmaceutical equipment manufacturer began reassessing their manufacturing facilities, they focused on an 8-foot-diameter center slung centrifuge featuring a perforated basket that holds in-process pharmaceuticals. The customer anticipated corrosive attack from acids, bases, and solvents. To prevent these attacks, they applied our corrosion-resistant Lectrofluor coating.
• Speed. A packaging equipment manufacturer supplies a variety of pharmaceutical companies with vertical and horizontal form-fill-seal machines for pouch packaging of viscous and aqueous liquid products, tablets, pre-moistened applicators and sterilizable hospital disposables in sealed and peel-open pouches. The company used several of our coatings on sealing head components and other key parts susceptible to corrosion, wear and product release issues.
• Sticking. One pharmaceutical manufacturer needed to protect a three-piece mold that thermoforms blisters from PVC/PVDC laminates in form-fill-seal machines. This mold faced difficult product release and exposure to chemical fumes. Magnaplate HCR provides the desired non-stick properties and resistance to hydrogen chloride fumes given off by the laminate in the pre-heat station.

You can see many more examples of engineered coatings in pharmaceutical packaging applications in our latest white paper.

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To provide aluminum parts with previously unattainable levels of hardness, wear and corrosion resistance and permanent lubricity, we’ve developed Tufram Omega®. This new, electronic-friendly coating combines our well-known Tufram® coating with a proprietary nanoparticle for optimal electrical resistance.

Let’s take a look at what makes Tufram Omega ideal for electronics applications, and some testing results that verify its properties.  

Engineered Coating for Electronics. Tufram Omega features a powerful combination of properties — harder-than steel abrasion resistance and a precise range of electrical resistance — for use in the electronics industry and many other applications. This new formula strikes a perfect balance between electrical resistivity and conductivity, and is useful in electronics applications that require a precise level of electrical surface resistance for aluminum parts. Examples include:

• Semiconductor manufacturing
• LED manufacturing
• Solar cell manufacturing
• Electronic component and device manufacturing
• Aluminum rollers and slide carriers
• Pick and place equipment
• Medical electronic instruments
• Telephone exchange equipment
• Automated handling equipment
• Exterior surfaces of spacecraft
• Commercial satellites

Tests Favorably. When engineered coatings are created, a vital step in the development process involves testing and verification by an independent laboratory. To confirm the wear resistance properties of Tufram Omega, Taber abrasion testing was performed in accordance with ASTM D4060 using a 1,000g load and CS-17 wheels. Weight loss was recorded after every 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 cycles.

An electron microscope was then used to check if conductive nano particles were still present in the pores of the abraded area. After 20,000 cycles, the conductive coating material remained in the pores, meaning that the Tufram Omega coating experienced very little wear and is a truly synergistic coating that becomes an integral part of the aluminum substrate.

To verify surface resistance, testing was done in accordance with ANSI/ESD STM 11.11-2006, which measures surface resistance in ohms. Measurements were made using a Prostat PRS-801 Resistance System. Based on surface resistance results, the testing lab confirms that Tufram Omega is a dissipative material with surface resistance between 106 and 109 ohms/cm, providing a surface that prevents open circuits and static buildup.

The new coating is now available as an off-the-shelf formula and is being used in several different applications and industries.

For more information, download our white paper on Tufram Omega

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Packaging machines often have to run sticky materials at high line speeds, which can pose friction, wear and release problems. Here’s a look at how our ‘smart’ engineered coatings can address all three problems.

Reduces Friction. When packaging machine components come in close contact with each other or the packaging materials themselves, the resulting friction can lead to slow line speeds and premature equipment wear. Our Tufram® and Plasmadize® coatings can combat friction and static buildup on a wide variety of packaging machine components.

For example, in one pharmaceutical application, a packaging equipment supplier makes extensive use of FDA-compliant Magnaplate coatings to reduce friction while also providing inert surfaces wherever chemically active material comes in contact with machine components.

This application involves a filling machine that handles irregular containers with a reciprocating head. The head moves with a conveyor belt so the filling nozzle can enter, fill and leave the container without any contact. Because of friction and wear issues, the packaging OEM couldn’t use aluminum for the filler heads until he applied Tufram. The coating helped the aluminum withstand friction between the assembly’s moving parts.

Eliminates Wear. Abrasive materials and dusty environments can lead to premature wear of machine components. Our engineered ‘smart’ coatings such as Nedox®, Tufram, Magnaplate HCR®, Plasmadize, Magnaplate HMF® and our anti-bacterial MAGnanoSHIELD® address these abrasive wear problems.

One packaging company confronted a problem with hot melt adhesive sticking to guides on a binding machine, causing excessive machine wear and bottlenecks. Another customer had sealing bars stick during the heat sealing of polyethylene bags.

Both problems were solved by applying our Plasmadize smart synergistic coating to the guides and sealing bars. Plasmadize prevented adhesive residue build up on the guides and eliminated sticking on the heat sealing bars. This surface enhancement coating provides reliable wear and corrosion resistance, as well as permanent non-stick dry lubricity for all base metals.

Provides Release and FDA Compliance. For sealing applications, melted plastic packaging materials sometimes stick to heated metal surfaces. Smart coatings like Tufram, Nedox, Magnaplate HCR, Magnaplate TNS® and MAGnanoSHIELD make packaging machine components non-stick to prevent product hang-up and ensure efficient substance release.

A contract packaging company in the pharmaceutical industry produces thermoformed plastic sheets with multiple cavities for individual tablets, capsules and caplets. After the cavities are filled and sealed with foil, sheets are cut into strips and packaged for sale or use as drug samples, hospital doses and clinical study packages.

Films tend to stick to aluminum tooling after thermoforming. Because each sheet of thermoformed film contains numerous cavities, if just one cavity is ruined because tooling sticks to it and tears it, the entire sheet must be discarded. Nedox provides a dry lubricating property that solves the problem by creating a dense, non-porous surface, which also eliminates the potential growth of mold and bacteria.

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You’re probably familiar with our advanced engineered coatings. What you may not know, however, is that we also provide high quality generic coatings. For example, let’s consider two coatings with some overlapping uses: our Nedox basic electroless nickel and much more advanced Nedox.

Nedox Basic electroless nickel will do the trick in many applications, but sometimes you will need all the enhanced surface properties that Nedox brings to the table. In this post, we’ll look at key performance differences between these two coatings and the best applications for each.

What’s the difference? Our Nedox Basic electroless nickel coating is a thin-film coating made from nickel and phosphorous. Nedox, on the other hand, is a nickel-based coating with the addition of a synergistic polymer and/or dry lubricants. Although they’re both based on nickel, these two coatings have very different performance characteristics.

A more robust coating than Nedox Basic electroless nickel, Nedox synergistic coatings have a surface hardness of up to Rc 68, compared to Nedox Basic’s electroless nickel’s maximum hardness of Rc 63. During salt fog testing, our Nedox CR lasts for 1200 hours, while Nedox Basic electroless nickel lasts for 1000 hours.

Nedox also performs better than Nedox Basic electroless nickel in chemically corrosive environments such as washdown and uranium-enrichment applications with UF6 exposure.

Even though these two coatings have many differences, they also have some similarities in their physical properties. Nedox and Nedox Basic electroless nickel both have a thermal conductivity of 0.0105 to 0.0135 Cal-cm/sec/°C and applied thicknesses between 0.0002 and 0.002 inches. These coatings both exhibit a coefficient of thermal expansion of 7.22 x 10⁶ in/in/1°F (13 x 10⁶ in/in/1°C).

Which is best? So which coating is better? For most applications, the answer is Nedox. Since it meets all FDA and USDA requirements, Nedox is a good choice for food and beverage and pharmaceutical applications. Nedox is also your best bet if you’re looking for a harder coating. However, if you’re looking for a coating that withstands high temperatures and costs less, Nedox Basic electroless nickel is the way to go.

Common Nedox Basic electroless nickel non-FDA applications include chemical processing, aerospace, transportation, instrumentation and manufacturing. More demanding applications such as nuclear equipment, food processing and molds are better suited for Nedox.

Learn more about our Nedox coatings and Nedox Basic electroless nickel

For increasingly corrosive conditions in oil and gas applications, standard coating technologies can marginally protect drilling tools against harmful galling, corrosion, pitting and other wear mechanisms that trouble drill strings. Engineered coatings, however, do an even better job protecting these tools from the tough conditions in deep wells.

In this post, we’ll examine some traditional coating problems in oil and gas applications, and tell you how our engineered do a better job solving them than generic coatings.

Traditional Coating Problems. Many types of coatings work adequately when used in the proper application. Standard or traditional coatings such as hard chrome, QPQ, fluoropolymers and tungsten carbides have long been used in oil and gas applications with some success.

 

Delivering an extremely low coefficient of friction, MAGNAPLATE HMF® eliminates galling that could result in premature wear, leaking and, ultimately, the total failure of valves and other metal parts.

The problem is that these traditional coatings don’t stand up to the levels of sour gas, pressure and rotating contact found in today’s oil and gas wells. Some designers still employ a nitride process or quench polish quench (QPQ) to reduce coefficient of friction and increase tool life, but these treatments case harden the part. QPQ penetrates six to ten thousandths into the part, changing its metallurgy. Tools used to spin, grab or lift QPQ treated components have shown limited ability to grip the case hardened components as they essentially are too hard for the tool to bite into.

Engineered Coatings. New engineered coatings are a much better choice for oil and gas applications than these traditional technologies. Take hardness, for example. A Nedox® synergistic coating with a coefficient of friction comparable to a 2H-hardness fluoropolymer coating ‘ups the ante’ on hardness to 68 Rc.

The major advantage of engineered coatings versus other types, such as paint-on varieties, is that the particles in synergistic coatings become an integral part of the substrate. Engineered coatings are mechanically bonded to the metal and the resulting new surface layer resists chipping, flaking, peeling or rubbing off. Because these coatings create metal surfaces that offer superior performance to both the original base metal and conventional coatings, these surface enhancements are said to be synergistic.

Further, because the engineered surfaces either duplicate or surpass the performance characteristics traditionally provided by metals such as chromium, cobalt, cadmium, and manganese, use of these expensive materials can be reduced.

System Design Advantages. Engineered coatings can improve drill string components as well as gate valves, impellers, rotors and mud pump components. They reduce friction and wear, and provide protection against corrosion and chemicals. Synergistic coatings such as Plasmadize®, Nedox and Magnaplate HMF® allow tool designers to make the drilling operation and extraction more efficient by downsizing casings and making components smaller. Initial tool costs can be lowered by employing reduced amounts of tooling material and less expensive metals.

Longer term, the improved COF and chemical resistance of surface enhanced parts increases the working life of tool and minimizes down time. System design advantages, such as power reduction, can also be realized with decreased COF and smaller, lighter tools available with engineered surface enhancements.

For more details, download our white paper.

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