Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Plating aluminum water coldplates
I plan to use drill thru (.250 dia X 13" length) aluminum coldplates for cooling my new power supply. Demineralized water will be used for cooling purposes. I plan to use zincate per ASTM B253 with electroless nickel finish (.001 thick). However I am concerned continuously running water will wear this finish and aluminum will corrode. Would you know how protective this finish would be and should I be worried about plating wear. Is there any other method of protecting aluminum inside these thru holes ?
Ted Trzesniowski- Cedar Knolls, NJ
2002
Electroless Nickel on aluminum works OK for this application; aluminum ice cube trays are EN plated big scale by an OEM that supplies equipment to hotels and likes. You might get some blackening of the EN if it is high in brighteners ("divalent sulfur compounds" - Macdermid taught me this line!). DI water tends to be more corrosive than tap water. Biggest problem will be porosity in coating stemming from pores in basis metal or from poor pretreatment or entrapped gas pits. Good luck!
Milt Stevenson, Jr.
Syracuse, New York
2002
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