Seeking Black Diamond Plating / Diamond Black Plating

A. "Diamond Black" is a trade name for a sputter deposited thin film coating of boron carbide. Diamond Black, Inc., holds the patent and is being helped in this venture by Dow Chemical. DBI is located in Virginia and has a coating service established to promote the coating.

Supposedly Diamond Black coatings are used for wear and lubricity. We think or suspect that the thin film coating reacts with water in the air and forms soaps, which is the actual material that creates the lubricious surface.

Good luck.
Steve

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Ed. note: We advise with sadness that Mr. Schachameyer, a former National President of the American Electroplaters Society, has passed away.

A. Hello Martin;

I believe that what you are seeking is "Diamond Black". It's a Boron Carbide ceramic coating that is known for it's wear and lubricity characteristics. Contact them at: Diamond Black, Conover NC.

I hope I was of assistance. If you know of a coating that works well with rubbers or thermosets, please let me know. Good Luck!

A. Hello Gregg!

If what you're looking for is a boron carbide PVD coating, then see the above entries.

>From the Thomas Register,

If you buy from these folks, tell them you saw them here, OK? Then maybe they'll help support Ted's fine site.

Hope this helps!

"Electroless Plating"
by Mallory & Hajdu

on eBay or

AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

A. Hello Gregg:

You probably already got the answer to your need. But according to your company I assume that what you are looking for has to deal with resistance to corrosion or to other degradation problem associated with fuels. If this is correct you should also look to electroless nickel technologies. Specifically, I saw several applications in this field some three years ago. Refer to Surface Technology, Inc., Trenton, NJ. You should not have trouble.

Regards,

A. That's a little vague, Randy. Can you give us more detail? Thanks.

A. Randy, if you're referring to the physical vapor deposition applied boron carbide coating, remember that it's a really thin coating- so it may, or may not, provide wear resistance. If you're lightly loading the piece, and high speed contact scuffing is your concern, then I'd GUESS you've got a good chance of success. If you're trying to resist a fast stream of abrasive coal slurry, for example, then you roughly have the same chance as Ralph Nader winning Texas.

A. Hi Marc. As you see, we appended your inquiry to a thread with a basic description of "Diamond Black", and contact info for it. I have never heard of TC50 and googling isn't getting me anywhere, so can you please explain basically what kind of a coating it is supposed to be? Thanks.

Regards,