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Is there a black finish that can be plated onto brass?

Q. I am designing an outdoor electronic product that includes a machined brass cap for a battery cap. I'd like to plate the brass cap with something that will result in a matte black coloring. The ultimate customer is the military and they require "matte black" on all surfaces. I've heard of "black zinc", but I'm not sure where I can get this done. Are there other platinng techniques to solve this issue? Also, whatever plating is the answer, I still need to mask the inside of the cap, as it will serve as a conductor to the battery tube threads (also brass).

Thank you,

Victor Simonyi
Product Development Consultant - San Francisco, California, USA
2006

A. You can use black nickel or black chrome(better corrosion resistance). Good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2006

A. Dear Sir
Oxidise the Brass with some chemicals which are generally used for oxidising or making antique finish on copper.Example: liver of sulfur [on eBay or Amazon]

with regards
C.K.Raveendhran

Kandaswamy Raveendhran
- Coimbateore, Tamil Nadu, India
2006

A. If you are selling to the military or the government, ask first what they require. This info. may also be encoded somewhere in your purchase order, or may flow down to you from the people you are selling to who are the direct customer of the government, this usually appears in the form of an apparently unrelated MIL-STD in very small print. Somewhere on somebody's PO from the government is probably a requirement to have this finish done to some MIL-STD or other, even if you ultimately get to choose which one meets the overall requirements of the design.

Speaking of MIL-STD's...

MIL-STD 171E is a general list which references various standard processes for finishing metal and wood, what you are looking for is probably contained there. A brief glance at the STD brought this particular MIL-SPEC up, there are probably others:

MIL-P-18317, MILITARY SPECIFICATION: PLATING, BLACK NICKEL (ELECTRODEPOSITED) ON BRASS, BRONZE, OR STEEL (22 DEC 1954)

One of many places to find MIL-STDs on-line is: everyspec.com

Best regards,

William Reymond
- Northampton, Massachusetts
January 11, 2013

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