What kind of coatings are there for the copper products?

[Rdpere]

Hello,

so the coatings which I already know about:
- Chemical nickel plating
- Galvanic nickel plating
- Chrome plating
- Sn and Zn plating
- Gold and silver plating
- PVD plating

Are there any more that im missing?
I have lots of experience with Nickel plating, but the problem is since the product must be pretty nice (decorative), there can be many mistakes and anomalies with it which are not acceptable. So if possible im searching for a more robust technology.

What im searching for:
- Appearance (without stains, spots ...)
- Robustness against the surface defects
- Stable process
- The coating must be corrosion resistant (5-9pH)
- Resistant to the effects of fingerprints
- The thickness of the coating must be even
- Covering defects on raw surfaces (if possible , not neccessary)
- Good application also on large products surface to about 6 dm2 max


ANY! suggestion is welcomed. Thank you!

 

[TugboatEng]

What is your geometry? Clear coat paint or film sounds like your best option.

 

[Rdpere]

Clear coating, i really didnt thought of that. Do you have any experience with it, what are the challanges? Is it good for big series?
Geometry is a CNC milled copper piece with up to 6 dm2. Lets say 2 dm x 1dm x 5 mm piece with small or bigger grooves all over the surface and also thread holes. Basically it is not flat. Also, the coating shouldnt be too thick to cover the threads (lets say max. 0.2 mm per wall).

 

[WKTaylor]

WHAT COPPER ALLOYS and what TEMPER condition?

What are You protecting the copper alloy from? OR what alloy/material are You protecting from the copper alloy?

What temperature range?

It the copper part shape: simple or complex?

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[Rdpere]

Copper Alloy: Se-Cu 7440
Protecting from water.
Temperature range: -20°C - +100°C
Shape is complex, CNC milled with a lot of different grooves and bumps.

 

[Rdpere]

[highlight #FCE94F]"TugboatEng (Marine/Ocean)25 Mar 22 16:22
What is your geometry? Clear coat paint or film sounds like your best option."[/highlight]

Is it possible that clear coating would be applicable for series production of a complex cnc milled object (with grooves and threads)?

 

[WKTaylor]

OK, R...

What water? Deionized/Distilled? Tap water with/without chlorides? With/without particulates? River water? Seawater?

Sometimes its ideal to consider alloys that would never need coatings in this a severe water environment, such as...
Naval copper alloys.
Copper-nickel [Monel] alloys.
Super Alloys.

NOTE. Se [selenium] in CRES alloys is now prohibited for MIL aerospace parts [IE: 303Se] due to cracking and corrosion in-service.

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[TugboatEng]

Rdpere, I asked about geometry because that will determine the viability of a paint coating. Objects with sharp edges are problematic to paint because the film thickness will be near zero on the edge.

As for grooves and threads, paint type coatings don't provide very uniform thicknesses and could cause issues with fits.

 

[Rdpere]

WKTaylor
Preferably for any water. It will be in contact with cooling agent, but it can also occur that 2% of time it will be in contact with normal water, so better to expect worse case scenario.

I would be happy if you could just list all the coatings there are (apart from those i already mentioned in the first post) and i will research them further and report which one i think will be the most suitable .