Services Offered
We provide fast metal finishing of most
materials and applications, as well as finishes for electronics,
aerospace, medical, dental, optical, commercial and the military. We
also provide plating on materials such as
steel,
stainless,
aluminum,
copper,
brass,
tungsten and more. With over
100 years of combined experience, we provide you with a finishing
team the possesses an understanding of the metal finish and plating
business that is unmatched in the industry.
Finishes A - Z
Anodizing
We offer
sulfuric
anodizing
Type 2 and Type 3, Class 1 and Class 2. Available colors include
Black, Red, Green, Grey, Blue, Pewter, Pink, Clear, Gold, Violet,
and Burgundy.
Visit TFC
Plating's brother company:
Anodizing Specialties,
for more information.
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Black
Zinc
TFC's own formulations - After the
molybdate coating is applied, the
parts are submerged in a seal composed of
chromates and
phosphates that enhance the salt
spray resistance of the coating. An organic coating, water dip
lacquer, is applied as a final coat
to protect the finish and improve appearance.
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Black
Chromate
(Molybdate)
on
Zinc
Similar to Econo Black, but this
molybdate black is applied over a
bright
zinc plate to yield a glossy,
plastic like black finish. The
corrosion characteristics can be
improved with a seal and/or
lacquer as required.
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Chromate
Coatings
Chromate coatings are
chemical conversion coatings. The
substrate metal participates in the
coating reaction and becomes a component of the coating. The
collaboration has a profound effect on the properties of the
coating. Among the metals commonly
chromate are
zinc, zinc
die casting,
aluminum and sometimes
copper and
silver.
Chromate films are typically very
thin, on the order or .0000001 in. and contribute no measurable
thickness to the overall coating.
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TFC offers the following
Chromates:
(and their resistance to white
corrosion)
q Clear - (8 to 12 hours) It has a
slightly
iridescent blue appearance.
q Black- (48 hours)
q Yellow - (in excess of 96 hours)
Excellent paint base.
q Olive Drab- (150 hours) dark green
finish
Seals are offered for after
chromates to increase
corrosion resistance.
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Copper
Copper
is most commonly used as an underplate or strike because of its
excellent adhesion and
ductility. Deposited from a
cyanide solution,
copper
is the best available deposit for plating direct on
zinc
die caste.
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Chrome
Replacement (Tin)
This finish is very similar to
chrome in its appearance and
applications. Parts are plated first with a bright
nickel then flashed with
tin
to give a convincing appearance of a
chrome-plated part. Finish is hard
and durable. The
alloy is a
composite coating like a
tin
nickel.
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Electroless
Nickel
Unlike
conventional
electroplating, no
electrical current is required for
deposition. The
electroless bath provides a deposit
that follows all contours of the
substrate exactly, without building
up at the edges an corners. A sharp edge receives the same thickness
of deposit as does a blind hole.
The most
widely used engineering form of
electroless plating is, by far,
electroless nickel.
Electroless nickel offers unique
deposit properties including uniformity of deposit properties in
deep recesses, bores and blind holes. Most commercial
deposition is done with an
acid phosphorus bath owing to its
unique physical characteristics, including excellent
corrosion, wear and abrasion
resistance,
ductility, lubricity,
solderability, electrical
properties and high hardness.
TFC offers
different types of
Electroless Nickel
Low Phos - A hard deposit approaching hard
chrome with no heat treatment
necessary for hardness. Comparable to
boron
electroless nickel. This deposit is
used mainly for its hardness and wear properties.
Mid Phos - By far the most widely used deposit. It has
a bright uniform appearance and is used for both decorative and
electronic applications.
High Phos - Compressively stressed deposits with
excellent adhesion,
ductility, and superior
corrosion resistance.
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Nickel
Nickel Plating is a yellowish
white, hard reflective finish used for wear resistance,
solderability, or dimensional
restoration.
Nickel plate is often applied over
copper
and under
chromium for a decorative finish.
For applications requiring bright
nickel, there are other considerations.
Nickel brighteners increase brightness, internal stress,
and lower the
ductility. It is best to avoid
specifying bright
nickel if the parts are to be bent
or crimped after plating. For those instances, a Watt's
nickel (nickel
sulfate with little or no brighteners) is used. This semi
bright
nickel has a more satiny finish
than bright
nickel but is more
ductile. If heat shock or minor
bending of the parts is anticipated it would be better to specify
semi bright
nickel in order to reduce the risk
of the plating flaking off.
TFC offers
the following
Nickel Plating:
q Bright
Nickel
q Electroless
Nickel (see above)
q Watt's
Nickel (Sulfamate)
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Passivation
Passivation of
stainless steel is not
electroplating, it is a non
electrical process whereby the free iron is chemically removed from
the surface of
stainless steel. This prevents the
formation of possible
corrosion sites and the development
of tightly adhering
oxides. The 300 series
alloys are generally preferred for
Passivation, as some of the 400
series
alloys will actually be discolored
by the
Passivation process.
Passivation imparts a limited
neutral salt spray
corrosion protection to the
stainless steel, usually not much
over 2 hours. Since different solutions are used to
passivate different
alloys, they must be properly identified. Mixing
alloys may not only result in differences in appearance,
but may result in some parts being destroyed.
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Silver
Silver has an advantage of its relative low cost, but it
is susceptible to
tarnishing when exposed to
sulfur in the atmosphere.
Silver plating, in addition to being decorative, has the
highest electrical and
thermal conductivity of any metal.
It is highly
ductile,
malleable, and
solderable.
Silver
tarnishes easily. Matte
silver plate is used extensively for finishing electronic
components where
silver's mechanical properties of
silver plate alone may not be enough and the design
engineer feels that appearance may also be an important
consideration.
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Tin
Tin
plating is normally done to impart
solderability to variety of base
metal substrates.
Tin is a silvery, blue-white metal
that is
ductile,
solderable, and covers very well.
The
solderability of time can be
affected by the
substrate, since several metals
tend to react with and migrate into the
tin
forming relatively non-solderable
intermetallic layers. Of particular
concern is
tin plating over
brass or
zinc die-cast. The
zinc will migrate into the
tin
and severely limit the shelf life of the finished parts. The
migration can be mitigated by the common practice of applying an
undercoat of
copper
or
nickel or a combination of
copper
with a flash of
nickel through which the
zinc cannot migrate. Matte
tin
generally has better
solderability, but bright
tin
is specified more because of its appearance.
Tin
does not
tarnish easily, making it a good
choice as a decorative finish.
TFC offers
the following
Tin Plating:
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Yellow
Chromate
(directly
on
Zinc Die Cast)
Parts are first chemically milled then
chromated to give a dull almost
olive drab finish.
Chromate coatings are
chemical conversion coatings. The
substrate metal participates in the
coating reaction and becomes a component of the coating. The
collaboration has a profound effect on the
corrosion properties of the
coating, in excess of 96 hours to white
corrosion. Special seals can be
applied which increase
corrosion resistance to over 500
hours. Among the metals commonly
chromate are
zinc, zinc die-casting,
aluminum
and sometimes
copper
and
Silver.
Chromate films are typically very
thin, on the order or .0000001 in. and contribute no measurable
thickness to the overall coating.
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Yellow
Chromate on
Zinc
Same as above but with a bright yellow
iridescent finish.
Zinc
Zinc plating is a soft,
ductile, decorative, marginally
solderable,
corrosion-resistant finish. Unlike
most other commonly plated metals,
zinc protects the
substrate by sacrificing itself and
thus corrodes before the base metal. For
corrosion protection,
chromates are applied over the
zinc.
Chromates are
chemical conversion coatings. The
substrate metal participates in the
coating reaction and becomes a component of the coating. The
collaboration has a profound effect on the properties of the
coating. Among the metals commonly
chromated are
zinc, zinc
die casting,
steel,
aluminum,
and sometimes
copper
and
silver.
Chromate films are typically very
thin, on the order of .0000001" and contribute no measurable
thickness to the overall coating and contribute no measurable
thickness to the overall coating.
TFC offers
the following finishes over the
Zinc Plate:
(Their resistance to white
corrosion)
q Clear - (8 to 12 hours)
It has a slightly
iridescent blue appearance.
q Black on all types of
steel- (48 hours)
q Yellow - (in excess of
96 hours) Excellent paint base.
q Black- (molybdate)
q Olive Drab- (150 hours
to white
corrosion) dark green finish
Seals are offered for after
chromates to increase
corrosion resistance.
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