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Pretreatment for AI 4130 Steel

I am interested in plating Zn-Ni on a AI 4130 steel. Can You suggest some definite surface pretreatment or cleaning process.

Thanks,

Swaminatha Prabu Kumaraguru
- Columbia, South Carolina, USA
2002

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Mr. Prabu,

Pretreatment is a whole concept that comprises cleaning. Cleaning alone, being a part of this whole does not have a definite answer unless you specify conditions of your substrate (type of soil, contaminants, scales, etc.). Unless you identify that, hardly can anyone give you a solid advise for a sequence. Then comes the activation of the already cleaned metal. Here again it depends on several factors (hardness, configuration, size and quantity, bath arrangement, etc.).

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
2002