Finishing a product can involve many different techniques. If you visit a finishing shop in Massachusetts, they may advice powder coating. They could also insist electroplating is the best finishing method. If they favor plating, they may suggest you go beyond the standard type. They may suggest that your component would benefit from hi-purity finishing.
What Is High Purity Finishing?
Hi or high purity finishing is a method of electroplating. The process consists of coating the base substrate metal with a coating of a high purity metal. These are metals in their purest form – usually 99% pure. Aluminum, gold and silver are common choices. They find their use in coating base or less pure metals for applications in:
* Research
* Development
* Electronic sensors
* Fluorescent lighting
* Lasers
* LEDs
* Lenses and optics
* Plasma screens
* Thermal barrier coatings,
The intent in hi-purity finishing is to imbue the substrate metal with the properties of the chosen metal coating. It can thus improve the overall performance and quality. Two popular choices are high purity aluminum and silver.
Electroplating with High Purity Aluminum
When you decide to employ high purity aluminum finishing on materials in your Massachusetts shop, you are adding protection. Surface finishing cannot help but benefit from a coating of this material. Aluminum offers superior weatherability, appearing to be almost impermeable to the elements. Overall, pure aluminum provides the following properties to the substrate surface:
* Capable of coating almost any metal surface
* High electrical and thermal conductivity
* Excellent reflectivity
* Superior corrosion resistance – surpassing the levels of other popular metals including cadmium, nickel and various nickel alloys. The aluminum layers acts as a sacrificial anode. Moreover, it achieves this level of protection without the environmentally harmful addition of a chromate conversion coating
* High chemical resistance – particularly against chlorine, fluorine, nitrogen and sulfur dioxide
* Environmentally friendly – when compared to other metals, aluminum is more eco-friendly because it is non-toxic, easy to handle, safe and recyclable
* Has a low possibility of hydrogen embrittlement
Good ductility
Such properties make high purity aluminum electroplating extremely advantageous when it comes to various commercial applications. It is ideal for various electrical applications as well as for such flexible items as springs. The result from using pure aluminum is an improvement of the product. Nor is this the only benefit. Not only does the result look good, it is attractive economically.
* Hi-Purity Finishing
In Massachusetts finishing shops, the decision to use high purity metals such as aluminum to electroplate a component can prove to be a beneficial one. The covering of a base metal substrate with high purity aluminum will vastly improve its properties allowing it to extend its potential applications. In fact, deciding to improve the qualities of a base metal through a hi-purity finishing process is a common means of refining the overall quality of the component and, therefore, increasing its integral value.
