Plating Certification

Question:

When you ask for a plating certification what information should be expected? Who does the certification—the supplier or an independent lab? L.J.

Answer:

Interesting question! Before you ask for plating certification, you must know which properties you want certified. There are many different things that can be certified. You might just want to have a certification stating that the parts were plated with zinc from an alkaline zinc plating bath with a certaindeposit thickness specified followed by a chromate conversion coating. A more complete certification might require performing a saltspray test in addition and that the part passesthe test with so many hours before the appearance of “white rust,” zinc oxide or red rest onthe surface. On a different part you might require certification of hardness of the deposit or the phosphorous content of an EN deposit.

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ASTM specifications specify testing methods for many of the different types of tests that are routinely performed.

In many situations, the plating vendor performs the certification. In some cases the certification is performed by the vendor but verified by an outside laboratory on a scheduled basis.