As the demand for non-chromium protection of zinc and zinc alloy plating has increased, trivalent chromium passivation systems have appeared. Early on, an interesting phenomenon was observed: Hexavalent chrome was found on coatings that were not supposed to contain hexavalent chrome. It was thought that the processor must be cheating and using hexavalent chrome in the working solution in order to achieve increased corrosion resistance. While all of the questions have not been answered, there are some conclusions. Before explaining the various parts of this mystery, it's important to … [Read more...]
August 29, 2014 By
Asterion Acquires Southeastern Chemical, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.- Asterion LLC is proud to announce that they have acquired Southeastern Chemical, Inc. as of September 1, 2014. Asterion LLC is an industry leading surface technology company with which many of you are already familiar. Asterion, has been the preferred supplier of metal finishing chemistry for the majority of Southeastern’s valued customers. For Southeastern’s customers, the transition from working with Southeastern Chemical to working directly with Asterion, LLC will be seamless. Doug Trageser, President of Southeastern Chemical has agreed to join Asterion, LLC as … [Read more...]
July 28, 2014 By
Roundup: Keeping Your Process Clean and Safe
We're 100% devoted to making sure we bring to your manufacturing process only the safest and most tested solutions. To ensure you're working in the cleanest and safest environments, we've developed a wide variety of blogs- written by our industry experts- for use in the every day administration of your plant. Let's look at a few of the most useful resources we've created so you'll have a quick, one-stop catalog of topics to pick from: How to Keep Your Shop Clean One of our more recent posts, this blog walks you through the common mishaps and dangers a dirt plant can present. It includes … [Read more...]
March 25, 2014 By
How to Keep Your Shop Clean
Cleaning the floors and tables in your shops is a chore you should not continue putting off and putting off until it feels like the space will never be clean again. The fact that you are able to produce good parts in a messy work space doesn't justify anything. Dirty shops will cost you in several ways: The mess can cause accidents causing employees to miss work. The dirt can contaminate parts prior to and following plating which affects the baths and ultimately the final product. Create negative opinions of your business as potential clients evaluate you and your ability to take … [Read more...]
March 11, 2014 By
Innovative Technology: TECHNICOAT 360 Ultra
TECHNICOAT 360 Ultra is Asterion’s latest development in high corrosion zinc passivation technology meeting RoHS requirements. TECHNICOAT ZNBL 360 ULTRA is a unique economical to use, all trivalent , high corrosion, thin film passivate for electrogalvanized zinc. When properly applied to electroplated zinc it will produce a consistently blue bright finish that can meet 192 hours of neutral salt spray to white corrosion products without a top coat or seal. (ASTM 117B). TECHNICOAT ZNBL 360 ULTRA can be used as a trivalent yellow when used with TECHNICOAT ZNBL 360 ULTRA YD. When added to … [Read more...]
February 28, 2014 By
How to Avoid Dark Smudges and Poor Coverage with Trichrome Plating
It's hard to believe that in the last 10 years, advancements are still being made to Trichrome plating. The most recent of those advancements is the liquid Trichrome additive. It is a consistent, wetter package and has a blue coloring to it. Even with these advances Trichrome plating is more finicky than say, a Hex Chrome. These advancements don't come without their own set of issues. The most common are dark smudges and poor coverage. When you experience one or both of these issues there are a number of possible causes and several proven procedures which will help you resolve the … [Read more...]
February 19, 2014 By
Troubleshooting Process Line
It would be wonderful if everything worked smoothly all the time. But there will be times when things don't work exactly as planned. That is when a good troubleshooting process will help you identify the issue quickly and develop a comprehensive resolution plan. When troubleshooting a process line start with the following steps: 1. Completely determine all of the symptoms of the problem 2. Review when the problem started. 3. Production records which include all the tank analysis, temperature and additions. 4. Compare all the analysis, temperature and additional … [Read more...]
February 7, 2014 By
Rinsing
Many processed chemicals are not compatible and may cause contamination if mixed. If your process uses chemicals which are not compatible, rinsing is required between steps in the process. For example, alkaline cleaners must be thoroughly rinsed before entering acid activation to ensure no solids are formed causing adhesion issues in plating. The main purpose of rinsing between chemical processes is to protect the subsequent chemical process from contamination by the previous chemical process. Rinsing may also be used as the final step step to remove chemical residues prior to drying. … [Read more...]