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SAE / MIL Spec cross-reference?

My customer specifies a red anodize with SAE J1974. Anodizing vendor I contacted was not familiar with SAE spec. Can someone direct me to a cross-reference chart, or something similar, referring SAE specs to Mil.

Thanks,

Frank Cunningham
- Clackamas, OR, USA
2001

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Frank -

Check with Global Engineering (IHS). You can call them if you can't find it on their website and they are very helpful.

Cynthia L. Meade
- Sylvania, Ohio, USA
2001

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2001

Frank, the trouble is that the specifications often- well, make that always- ask for different things. Different thicknesses, different visual acceptance criteria, different tests to measure the requirements, different controls on the processing, etc. A simple example comes to light when examining the USUAL Mil Spec practice of requiring plating coupons to be made from the material that is being plated- so if you are plating double vacuum melted 304, then your coupon better be double vacuum melted 304. AMS documents generally allow coupons of the same class of material- which of course, opens the question of what des "same class" means. Such a difference is not obvious, as both specs would allow the use of coupons for thickness and adhesion testing, but I think you'll agree that the requirement is different: so you can't say that FED QQ-C-320 is the same as AMS2406 on that basis alone.

Cynthia is correct that Global is a fine place to get specifications: they sell specs from all over the world and are familiar with the various systems. Yet to be correct, you need to get the documents and compare them yourself, often a tedious and mind-numbing chore, however necessary.

Good luck!

Lee Gearhart
metallurgist - E. Aurora, New York

TRY www.ili.co.uk If you quote the spec they will tell you if it has been superceded. Usually old mil spec numbers stay the same except MIL is replaced by SAE AMS.

COLIN WEST
- UK
2004