Corrosion problems with Nickel plated Phosphor Bronze

Letter 6015

Corrosion problems with Nickel plated Phosphor Bronze

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We currently have a corrosion problem on our so-called limit switch contacts. They are a SAE CA510 .010" thick Phosphor Bronze material that we have nickel plated. Our nickel plate call out is BRIGHT (not sure in the industry what this stands for as far as thickness, etc.) nickel and uses the ASTM standard B322 [link is to spec at TechStreet]-85 as far as cleaning the parts beforehand. The contacts sit in a plastic housing and there only contact is with another contact with the same properties. Our question is should we specify a different Nickel finish or possibly there is some other material that could serve our purposes that wouldn't need to be plated and that would run around the same cost (if not cheaper) but have the same material properties as the Phos. Bronze? Possibly, we just need to specify a thicker nickel plate or something of that nature.

Thanks.

Steffen J. Weech
Chamberlain Group, Inc. - Nogales, Az. USA

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Traditionally, bright nickel is a sulfate nickel that has brighteners added.

Electroless nickel will cost a bit more, but is more wear resistant and is more corrosion resistant.

If I understand your use, 0.0005" would probably be minimal.0.0010" would be better and very harsh conditions would use 0.0015".

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida

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