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ROHS COMPLIANT REPLACEMENT FOR GOLD ALODINE MIL C 5541-E ON ALUMINUM

MY PLATER IS SUPPLING ME TRIVALENT CHROMATE ALODINE: MIL-C-5541E, IS THIS REPLACEMENT FOR GOLD ALODINE ON ALUMINUM RoHS COMPLIANT? I AM LOOKING FOR THE CORRECT TECHNICAL WORDING FOR THIS RoHS COMPLIANT COATING TO SUPPLY TO MY PLATER AND MY CUSTOMER. I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE WORDING CHEM FILM CHROMATE TRIVALENT PER MIL-C-5541E CLASS 3 AND CLEAR CHROMATE TRIVALENT PER MIL-C-5541E,CLASS 3. I NEED CLARIFICATION OF WORDING.

SINCERELY,

CHERYL D. POWELL
MICROWAVE MANUFACTURER - MORGAN HILL, California, USA
2006

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A trivalent coat certainly should be RoHS compliant, they should be willing to certify it as such. Be aware, however, that at this time there are no QPL approved trivalent finishes - all the groundwork has been laid and some are in testing, but according to the Assist website none are actually listed yet. So, regardless of whether or not the finish passes all the test requirements for MIL-C-5541, it can't actually be certified to that specific standard as of now. A slight wording change would probably make you okay though - "This finish meets all of the testing and performance requirements of MIl-C-5541" would probably do it.

Jim Gorsich
Compton, California, USA
2006

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First of two simultaneous responses --

Trivalent is RoHS compliant. The wording looks fine.

John Martin
- Wales
2006

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Second of two simultaneous responses -- 2006

For RoHS compliance, specify Type II (in addition to the Class) coating per MIL-DTL-5541 [on DLA]F. Classes 1A and 3 are unchanged from MIL-C-5541E. Specify 'Gold' and 'Clear' when desired. Check color availability with your supplier.
Type I -- The traditional, hexavalent chromium-containing coatings.
Type II -- The new, non-hexavalent chromium coatings.

MIL-DTL-5541F, MIL-DTL-81706B (with Amendment 1) and QPL-81706 are available from ASSIST.

Note: the mandatory Qualified Products List, QPL-81706, hasn't been updated since April 2002 and doesn't yet include any TCP (non-hex.) trivalent chromium products. You need at minimum a supplier letter verifying product compliance with MIL-DTL-81706B.

Ken Vlach [deceased]
- Goleta, California
Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.
Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to benefit from.

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If I may,
I received a copy of a letter from the Dept. of the Navy to Metalast International, inc. It states, if I may paraphrase some;

"Metalast's TCP-HF *(Trivalent product) has passed the required testing per Mil-DTL-81706B, Type 2 Chemical Conversion Materials for Coating Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys.

Listing on the QPL will appear"....and the letter goes on to give the codes for which the product was approved. The letter states that it (the letter) may be used as a qualification to the QPL.

This information is available to view on Metalast's web site

Bill Grayson
metal finishing - San Jose, California, USA
2006