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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Friction problem in nickel plating parts

DEAR READERS,

I AM DEVELOPING A HINGE TYPE COMPONENT. THESE ARE TWO 1.5 MM THICK MILD STEEL BARREL NICKEL PLATED 11 X 90 MM STRIP PIECES. HAS A HOLE IN EACH STRIP END & BOTH ARE JOINED THROUGH A NICKEL PLATED RIVET. JOINT IS NEITHER VERY TIGHT NOR LOOSE SO THAT WE CAN MOVE THE ASSEMBLED PART. AFTER RIVETING WHEN WE START ROTATING' AFTER A FEW ROTATION IT GETS JAM DUE TO REMOVAL OF NICKEL & SCRATCHES IN THE AREA WHICH ARE FACING EACH OTHER. please TELL HOW WE CAN SOLVE THIS. AS WHEN I USE SOME OIL OR GREASE IN THAT AREA IT WORKS WELL. WILL I HAVE TO USE OIL & GREASE AS A MUST? OR IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY ALSO. please REPLY.

NAVED AHMAD
- KANPUR, U.P., India
2005

Plate at least one surface using electroless nickel phosphorus. Nickel against nickel will almost always gall. but electroless NiP does not gall. You could use ENP on both surfaces.

Don Baudrand
Consultant - Poulsbo, Washington
(Don is co-author of "Plating on Plastics" [on Amazon or AbeBooks affil links]
and "Plating ABS Plastics" [on Amazon or eBay or AbeBooks affil links])

A. >Naved

Use a Stainless Steel rivet. Don't use a plated rivet.

Asif Nurie [deceased] [deceased]
- New Delhi, India
With deep sadness we acknowledge the passing of Asif on Jan 24, 2016

A. Hi Naved

Are you using electrolytic or electroless nickel? If electrolytic is it nickel sulphate or a nickel sulfamate bath? Sounds like you need to either plate in a hard nickel sulfamate bath or chrome plate the nickel.

Jeff Marten
- Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

A. Nickel against nickel is like stainless steel, it will gall, IE: it will try to cold weld together. If there is a heavy load or if the load is mild, but, with a frequent motion, nickel is a poor choice. Lubrication will be required. You could try electroless nickel plating the smaller of the two parts and see if that will work.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida

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