Standard Specifications: MIL-C-26074 Type II • Grade A, B & C • Class 1, 2, 3 & 4 • TYPE III • AMS 2404
Pioneer's Proprietary Electroless Nickel Finishes: NorKote™ NorLast™ NorGuard™ NorLube™
Key performance properties of Electroless Nickel Plating:
• Excellent abrasion and corrosion resistance
• Uniform plating, no edge build up
• Excellent natural surface lubricity
• Perfect for tight tolerance work
• Can be applied to different substrates including aluminum, stainless steel, brass and copper.
• Well-suited for salvage work
Yielding excellent wear and corrosion resistance, electroless nickel is an autocatalytic plating process resulting in a reflective layer of nickel-phosphorous. The total build up plating process provides uniformity on all surfaces, making post machining unnecessary when dimensions are accurate. Pioneer offers surface treatments to increase hardness, lubricity and corrosion resistance.
The brightness and decorative appearance of the electroless nickel coating means that Pioneer's electroless nickel platings may be specified as single coatings where multiple coatings were previously used. There is an overall uniformity of deposit with no edge build up, allowing bright, smooth, pit-free deposits.
In terms of ductility, a 0.001" foil of electroless nickel can be bent 360° around an 18" mandrel without cracking.
All of Pioneer's electroless nickel platings provide freedom from porosity and have a controlled hardness heat treatable to 68 and 70 Rockwell C, respectively.
Other benefits include its natural lubricity, which provides excellent release properties, an infinite throw, which eliminates auxiliary anodes, a solderable hard coat for light metals and a self-polishing effect when used in molding operations.
Electroless nickel provides a sound base coating for subsequent finishing operations and has anti-galling characteristics for mating metallic finishes. Selective plating using the Nor-Kote™, Nor-Last™, Nor-Lube or ™Nor-Guard™ processes can salvage worn or mis-machined parts. Nor-Last™ provides excellent wear resistance as an alternative for hard chrome plating.
The Electroless Nickel Process
Electroless nickel is a very useful and versatile tool when understood and properly applied. The unique characteristics and physical properties of Pioneer's family of electroless nickel coatings can upgrade your existing finishes for stainless steel, aluminum and brass.
Electroless nickel platings provide superior wear due to hardness and natural lubricity. Severe wear applications must be carefully evaluated and comparisons between electroless nickel coatings and other processes should be made. Nor-Kote™, Nor-Last™, Nor-Lube™ or Nor-Guard™ may be ground, honed, or machined using techniques that correspond to their respective hardnesses.
Electroless Nickel mimics the base metal's surface finish. Should there be scratches, tool marks or blemishes, they will be carried through the final finish. Masking for selective plating is possible because the solution will deposit upon contact. The edge definition will be slightly uneven, depending on the thickness of the plate. Allowance should be made for blending in the plate by grinding or stoning, if required. Tapped holes or threads may be plugged or fixtured if they are standard size.
Design consideration should be given to dimensioning parts for overall plating. Joined parts of the same or different materials may be plated. An approved silver solder or a carbon-free weld should be used for joining. Soft solder is usually not platable without special pre-treatment.
Successful electroless nickel plating depends on many factors, among them being skilled production workers and proper equipment processing techniques. Pioneer has them all and our objective is to provide complete job satisfaction to our customers. That's why we maintain quality control that begins with pre-plate inspection and ends with certification. We provide Certifications of Compliance for finishing and testing specifications. Lot samples, test coupons and other support data are available for inspection of compliance.
Among our test equipment we maintain:
• pH Meters
• Computerized Temperature Controls
• Physical Measuring - Micrometers
• Process Controllers
• X-Ray Fluorescence
• Microhardness
• Cross-Section
• Salt Spray
| Process | Hardness | Wear | Corrosion | Lubricity | Description | Major Benefit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nor-Last™ | Rc | Vickers | Knoop | Suga | Salt Spray | C.o.F | Nor-Last offers the best wear protection of our electroless nickel finishes approaching the ability of hard chrome | Surface hardness and supreme wear resistence increasing tooling longevity 2.5 to 4 times |
| as plated | 64 | 800 | 822 | 7 mg | 100 hrs | 0.18 | ||
| baked | 70 | 980 | 970 | 5 mg | 48 hrs | 0.21 | ||
| Nor-Kote™ I | Pioneer Metal Finishing's standard electroless nickel process | Hardness and adequate wear resistence | ||||||
| as plated | 44 | 440 | 452 | 15 mg | 100 hrs | 0.18 | ||
| baked | 68 | 940 | 920 | 13 mg | 24 hrs | 0.32 | ||
| Nor-Guard™ I | 45 | 450 | 466 | 13 mg | 1200 | 0.15 | Pioneer Metal Finishing's corrosion resistant electroless nickel process | Supreme corrosion protection |
| *Hard Chrome | 70 | 980 | 970 | 4.0 mg | 24 hrs | 0.25 | ||
| Nor-Kote™ II | Added PTFE surface treatment for improved surface lubricity and release properties | |||||||
| Nor-Kote™ III | Combination of proprietary surface pretreatment of the base metal and PTFE surface treatment | |||||||
| Nor-Lube™ | Electroless nickel process with occluded PTFE particles offering supreme lubricity | |||||||
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