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Last week at the ASETSDefense meeting in Denver, USA, Dr. Alan Rose of Elsyca Inc. presented a paper on simulating the deposition of alloy coatings, earmarked as more environmentally friendly alternatives to electrolytes containing chromium and cadmium.
Due to the toxic nature of most cadmium salts, a growing environmental pressure to reduce cadmium usage has lead some countries to ban the use of cadmium and research for alternatives has intensified. Among the candidates to replace cadmium are the zinc-nickel alloys which can outperform cadmium in corrosion tests.
The paper outlined how Elsyca characterized a ZnNi solution and then used this information to enable predictions of coating thickness, and of particular interest, the Ni content distribution in the deposited layer, since it is this factor that impacts the corrosion resistance of the coating.
Reaction to the presentation reaffirmed the considerable interest in using Elsyca’s technology to help reduce risk and accelerate implementation of such new coatings on large scale components. After all, wrt new coatings, it is becoming clear that even experienced platers will not be able to rely as strongly on rules of thumb being available in more traditional chemistries such as hard chrome.
Elsyca's combination of electrolyte solution characterization, simulation technology and engineering capabilities has already helped numerous customers worldwide to quickly and cost-effectively bring new coatings to this highly competitive market.
For a copy of the full paper, please contact Elsyca at info@elsyca.com.
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