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Aluminum, conductive coatings for, alternatives to chromate conversion

An aerospace customer of mine has asked what alternatives there are to chromate conversion coatings to yield a conductive finish and what the trade-offs are. All I have seen is nickel coating, but I haven't found any discussions of pros and cons. Are there other alternatives, and are there any papers discussing what to use when?

Thank you.

Ken Javor
EMC Compliance - Huntsville, Alabama
2004

Almost all metals can be plated onto your part and are conductive. The tradeoff is that they are considerably more expensive than a chem film (chromate coating) which is a trace of an insulator that can be easily broken thru.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2004

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