Best gun coating for corrosion resistance

[jeepmor]

All,

This is not really a gun related question. However, I think gun mfrs make the best coatings for resisting corrosion and I need a corrosion resistant steel coating in a big way.

Currently, I work in solar and we manually coat a certain part in what amounts to gun oil and all sorts of silicon and glue particles stick to this oil film making the particles hard to get out of the way. These particles are causing me a large amount of grief as they cause a lot of dimensional issues on my silicon parts. 0.25 mm causes 1 mm of run out addition on a cylindrical part. This issue is costing me over 25K per month on lost revenue as a downstream module engineer with 0.05 mm or less tolerances. Said parts are landing on a large table 4'x4" table covered with thick gun oil to keep it from rusting.

I'd like to cover this mounting table with a corrosion resistant coating that would remove the need for using oil to keep it from rusting. This way, my ops team could use simple compressed air and a water hose to keep the table clean and not worry about corrosion giving them (and me) process grief regarding setup.

All comments welcome.

1. I don't think electroplating chrome or similar would work, but it might. Tables are electromagnetic parts.

2. What's the best electro-less coating that is corrosion resistant?

3. This is a pure production environment with 40kg parts landing on a 6" diameter steel pad lowered by a manual crane or large robot. I need some tough stuff.

4. Think of it as a 3" thick 4'x4" steel plate that you need to coat with said material. Said parts are steel with an aluminum "matrix" plate mounted on top. They are exposed to silicon carbide and polyethylene glycol, and regular tap water for cleaning.

All input appreciated.

 

[hammerklavier]

Would it be feasible to use stainless steel?

 

[NMGonzo]

I am slowly switching all my guns to stainless.

I like shiny things.

 

[LiquidTension]

Does it have to be bare metal? Any reason you couldn't use that binary epoxy they use on bar tops? It's pretty hard.

 

[Kliegl]

I'll take a swing at it. I'm a Toyota production engineer, and we source, build, and install the equipment to build the cars, including a "prep table" which it sounds like you have here.

We don't worry about oil buildup, but we do worry about mutilation, which is scratches on the paint, or foreign matter on the paint.

What I would recommend you do is cover the steel table with a large machined chunk of UHMW nylon. This stuff is DENSE, can be machined perfectly, and can be countersunk and bored so that you could bolt it to the table using flat head screws around the periphery that you could put a dab of paint on. Since your parts would be in the middle, all they would interact with is the nylon surface, which could be wiped with alcohol or water, and blasted dry with shop air.

Be advised, shop air often has oil in it, if there's a lubricator up there. I would wipe it with either an alcohol rag, or a lint free lens cloth.

Hope this helps.

 

[rodregier]

NP3 if you can send out the working surface for surface protection.

http://www.robarguns.com/np3.htm

Gun-Kote available from Brownells would be another possibility, but it is oven-cured.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=41610/Product/GUN_KOTE_trade__OVEN_CURE__GUN_FINISH

Do you need to protect a contiguous 4x4 foot piece of metal work surface, or a smaller impact plate?

 

[jeepmor]

Thank you for the input. I cannot describe my process in too much detail due to IP reasons. It's not any solar industry secret, I just need to careful. UHMW won't work because it is an electromagnetic table that locks the part down for processing and it doesn't take much of a gap to greatly degrade the holding force.

All that said and reviewing everyone's input. I think I'm going to pursue a nickel or chrome plating. There might be a valid concern about the induction coils laminated in a plastic/uhmw track so I'll likely have to try an electroless deposition process. I'm not certain it will work
at all. However, as a process engineer I owe it to my production team to try and make their jobs easier to conduct so that I can improve my yields.

Eliminating the oil that grabs all the particles is key to the improvement. I don't trust the epoxy solutions because my guys are lowering 80# of parts onto a six inch diameter puck. The stresses of placing it down with a tilt would cause the epoxy coating to chip and generate particles, causing the same problem I'm trying to avoid.

Thanks for the input. I have some stuff to mull over.

 

[Spartan Gladiator]

Not being a metallurgist, I would have suggested the NP3 coating or the Failzero coating
http://www.uctcoatings.com/

 

[Bubbles]

I would call these guys - http://www.metalifeind.com/ and ask about titanium nitriding the table. Talk to Ron McKovsky (sp?).

Given the size of the table, it won't be cheap.

 

[Al Thompson]

http://www.apwcogan.com/

Bob may be able to help.

 

[rodregier]

With the forces you are talking about nitriding sounds right to me. I believe it is a ion beam sputtering process used for application, so it's very thin and tough, but won't change the underlying temper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_nitride

 

[germ]

Just a stab in the dark. Have you looked into eezox?
EEZOX

I read a corrosion test somewhere using nails and this stuff performed far superior to anything else, if I remember correctly. Goes on wet, let dry, wipe off excess and you're good to go. They don't give it away though.

<edit>Found the test here. Well, CLP was a fairly close second but eventually caved while eezox was still going strong. Smells nice too </edit>

 

[tbutera2112]

POR-15

not a gun finish - but the best thing you can do for your application! and its reasonably priced

http://www.por15.com/