Metal Part Finishing Options

 

The final step of the manufacturing process for providing esthetical and environmental protection is metal finishing. Metal finishing is also used to lower the roughness of the surface after the machining operations. To summarize you can use metal finishing for a couple of things and there are many advantages of using a metal finishing process. Some of them are:

 

• Increased durability
• Improved decorative appeal
• Improved electrical conductivity
• Higher electrical and chemical resistance

 

Several options for metal part finishing

 

1. Anodizing

 

The process of changing the surface layer of the metal into oxide is called anodizing. These layers are very small when compared to some other methods used for coating, but they are very resistant and lasting. Aluminum is mostly used as a material for anodizing. There are three types of anodizing. All of these types are used for creating very durable and corrosion-resisting coating.

 

Here are some of the most important things you need to know about anodizing and its advantages and disadvantages:

 

Advantages:

• Less corrosion and abrasion
• More wear protection and resistance
• This type of finish can be dyed
• Hard and smooth finish
• Almost no risk of adhesion failure and fading
• UV Stable

 

Disadvantages:

• Low range of compatible materials
• This kind of metal finish has a lower thermal conductivity
• Not suitable with stainless steel

 

2. Powder coating and chemical film coating

 

Powder coating is used as a decorative finish that is very close to the painting, but with much bigger durability and resistance. The process consists of spraying the paint onto the surface of the material. It doesn’t have corrosion resistance as good as the anodizing process but it offers a wide range of colors and more corrosion resistance than regular paint.

 

With powder coating, you will get a nice decorative finish that will appear similar to paint but it will have much more durability. Also, this product is less flammable and is not toxic. The only disadvantage in powder coating is that more expensive and you can’t mix powders in order to achieve different colors.

 

Chemical Film Coating can provide you only with corrosion resistance. They don’t offer you some additional wear resistance. The chemical film coating has the advantage of maintaining electrical conductivity and increasing the bonding of the paint and the powder coating with the base material.

 

3. Electroless Nickel Plating

 

This kind of coating uses a chemical bath to plate the materials. Electroless plating is very popular and used in industries where the level of corrosion is high. This plating method offers increased resistance to corrosion. Industries that are using electroless plating are the oil and gas industry, automotive and aerospace industry, food, and beverage manufacturing industry and etc. This plating method is perfect for this kind of environment.

 

This method is kind of an industrial plating and it doesn’t require electricity. The process uses chemical reactions to plate on the metal surface and that is why this method is also known as autocatalytic plating or conversion plating. It is much slower than the electroplating process but applies coating evenly on the surface and it is a lot cheaper than the electroplating process.