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A durable coating for an aluminum diecasting

I currently produce a line of pressure controls that employ machined aluminum (6061 T6) that we anodize or hard anodize. I am interested in developing a line of products from diecast components (aluminum 380 or equivalent) and need to come up with a coating that would be competitive to anodize with respect to wear, corrosion resistance and appearance. Any advice would be welcome.

John Karpowicz
laboratories - Norristown, Pennsylvania
2006

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Aluminum die-castings are anodized and hard anodized. On 380 alloys the appearance is darker and less uniform. If cosmetics are an issue, this could be a problem.

Chris Jurey, Past-President IHAA
Luke Engineering & Mfg. Co. Inc.

Wadsworth, Ohio

2006

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Hello,

I suspect that Electroless nickel plating will meet your requirement in all aspects like hardness,better surface finish, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.

And one more important thing before plating check your material chemistry, since it is the important factor for better plating.

Before plating finish your component surface as smooth as possible by using any finishing method (like grit blast)

Finally, if you doesn't think about the cost means go head with ENP since it will be costlier than anodizing.

Ganesh Muthu
- Coimbatore, TN, India
2006