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Conductive Stainless Steel Plating Question

February 3, 2009

I need to know if there is a plating for stainless steel that has all of these qualities:

1. High Conductivity
2. Is resistant to open air conditions i.e. at sea
3. RoHS Compliant

The general idea is that I need the stainless steel for the corrosion resistance for open air conditions. I need the stainless steel to then have the conductivity of Cold Rolled Steel. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Daniella Liptak
Engineering Assistant - Oakwood Village, Ohio

Nickel would probably work and gold is the guaranteed material. Copper,zinc and cadmium will corrode.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
February 5, 2009

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Electroless nickel phosphorus is corrosion resistant for most applications better, than stainless steel, such as ocean exposure. The conductivity varies with the amount of phosphorus in the alloy . Low P 4%P about 30 micro Ohm-cm, or less, hi P, i.e. 10% or more is the best for corrosion resistance at about 300 micro ohm-cm. I don't have a reference that gives the resistance of steel for comparison.

Don

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])
February 9, 2009

You can plate one of the platinum metals on it but before you do that, you need to activate the surface of stainless steel.

Lee Leong Tee
plating company - Malacca, Malaysia
March 11, 2009

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March 18, 2009

Before we get carried away with expensive solutions there are a few facts to establish.
There are about 50 'standard' grades of stainless steel, some of which are useless in seawater exposure. They will have different conductivities.
Conductivity. Do you mean heat or electrical? If electrical, what current must it carry? What conductivity do you wish to achieve? 'Cold rolled steel' does not tell us much.
It is unlikely that stainless has a very different conductivity to most steels and in a marine environment will probably have a far better performance after surface corrosion starts. It is unlikely that a surface coating will greatly enhance bulk conductivity but may well enhance corrosion.
Copper cladding on the bottom of s/s cooking pots is common but I would not want to expose it to sea water for long.

Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England

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Would titanium coating help you?

H.R. Prabhakara - Consultant
Bangalore Plasmatek - Bangalore Karnataka India
March 31, 2009

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Yes, TiN (Titanium Gold) coating on stainless steel might just do the trick. Coatings are applied 0.3 µm to 0.5 mm thick so basically the substrate is still Type 304 or 316 stainless.

If all that's required is "conductivity of cold rolled stainless steel". This might be the cheapest solution.

Michael Liu Taylor
specialty stainless steel distributor - Dallas, Texas
March 31, 2009

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We normally work in aluminium, but I have a local amusement park who want us to do various metalwork jobs - spec and manufacture. Bulk of the work is extensive steel railing around the park, but for now they have an immediate need to replace steel apparatus on Dodgem cars. Its a pivoting sprung bracket which keeps electrical contact with the overhead mesh.

The park is on the sea front, and is attacked by the sea air. The current bracket is a top u-bracket on a rod, with a tongue pivoting within it on a galv spring (the customer will retain the spring). The customer asked us to replace rusted steel bracketry with "stainless", so I'm looking for the best metal to work with galv spring, to conduct electricity in a marine environment for the long term. Thanks in advance !

Gavin Naismith
- Hastings, E. Sussex, U.K.
October 28, 2009

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October 29, 2009

Hi, Gavin., The conductivity of stainless steel is significantly less than plain steel, but may be enough. But how about bronze?

• Conductivity of SAE 1045 steel = 10% of copper
• Conductivity of 430 stainless steel = 2% of copper
• Conductivity of bronze = 26% of copper

- from Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility By Clayton R. Paul

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey