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Looking to powder coat for better salt spray life than nickel-chrome plating

sir I am into manufacturing of motorcycle spokes and am doing nickel chrome plating on mild steel. I would like to do powder coating on them but not sure about the life of coating as compared to nickel chrome plating. please guide us thanks.

Vikram Varma
manufacturer of autoparts - Delhi, India
January 6, 2011

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Hi, Vikram. Salt spray testing is a QA measure used to indicate if a process has gone bad; it is not an indicator of real life, and must never be used to try to determine the real service life of a finish because the corrosion mechanism in a salt spray cabinet and in real life are fundamentally different. For example, hot dip galvanizing performs poorly in salt spray testing, where there is insufficient time and carbon dioxide levels to build up the essential tenacious and impervious zinc carbonate corrosion products, but no coating outperforms galvanizing in the real world.

Similarly, high quality chrome plating (as used on exterior automotive components) is easily the equal of any powder coating. If you want to reduce costs, or have color choices, or have resistance to certain corrosive exposures, powder coating can be a good choice. But never choose it because the quality of your chrome plating isn't good enough -- chrome plating can last decades.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January , 2011