Metallic nonelectrolytic alloy coatings produced from aqueous solutions are commercially used in several industries, including electronics, aerospace, medical, oil and gas production, chemical processing, and automotive. Nonelectrolytic coating systems use two types of reactions to deposit metal onto a part: electroless and displacement. This article explains the various types of electroless and dispersion alloy coating systems. It provides information on the processing of parts, process control, deposit analysis, and equipment used for coating nonelectrolytic displacement alloys. The article concludes with a discussion on the safety and environmental concerns associated with nonelectrolytic deposition processes.

This article describes the steps, bath composition and characteristics, equipment, plating rate, deposit thickness, and applications for different types of nonelectrolytic deposition processes, including electroless nickel plating, electroless copper plating and mechanical plating.

This article addresses surface cleaning, finishing, and coating operations that have proven to be effective for molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, and niobium. It describes standard procedures for abrasive blasting, molten caustic processing, acid cleaning, pickling, and solvent and electrolytic cleaning as well as mechanical grinding and finishing. The article also provides information on common plating and coating methods, including electroplating, anodizing, and oxidation-resistant coatings.

This article focuses on alternatives to chromium in both hard chromium plating and chromate conversion coating. These include electroless nickel plating, nickel-tungsten composite electroplating, spray coating applications, and cobalt/molybdenum-base conversion coating. The article discusses the material and process substitutions that can be used to eliminate the use or emissions of chromium in industrial processes. It describes the physical characteristics of each coating, economics, environmental impacts, advantages, and disadvantages of alternative processes.

Aluminum, the second most plentiful metallic element, is an economic competitor in various applications owing to its appearance, light weight, fabricability, physical properties, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance. This article discusses the primary and secondary production of aluminum and classification system for cast and wrought aluminum alloys. It talks about various manufactured forms of aluminum and its alloys, which are classified into standardized products such as sheet, plate, foil, rod, bar, wire, tube, pipe, and structural forms, and engineered products such as extruded shapes, forgings, impacts, castings, stampings, powder metallurgy parts, machined parts, and metal-matrix composites. The article also reviews important fabrication characteristics in the machining, forming, forging, and joining of aluminum alloys. It concludes with a description of the major industrial applications of aluminum, including building and construction, transportation, consumer durables, electrical, machinery and equipment, containers and packaging, and other applications.

The high-temperature corrosion processes that are most frequently responsible for the degradation of furnace accessories are oxidation, carburization, decarburization, sulfidation, molten-salt corrosion, and molten-metal corrosion. This article discusses each corrosion process, along with the corrosion behavior of important engineering alloys. It describes the corrosion of plating, anodizing, and parts of pickling equipment such as tanks, wirings and bus bars, racks, anode splines, pumps, and heaters.

Electroless, or autocatalytic, metal plating is a nonelectrolytic method of deposition from solution that can be plated uniformly over all surfaces, regardless of size and shape. The plating's ability to plate onto nonconductors is an advantage that contributes to the choice of electroless copper in various applications. This article provides information on the bath chemistry and deposit properties of electroless copper and discusses the applications of electroless copper plating, such as printed wiring boards, decorative plating-on-plastic, electromagnetic interference shielding, and hybrid and other advanced applications. It describes two commercial processes, pretreatment and post-treatment. The article reviews the solutions used, controls and control equipment, and performance criteria of electroless copper plating. It concludes with information on the environmental and safety issues associated with electroless copper plating.

Copper can be electrodeposited from numerous electrolytes. Cyanide and pyrophosphate alkalines, along with sulfate and fluoborate acid baths, are the primary electrolytes used in copper plating. This article provides information on the chemical composition, plating baths, and operating conditions of electrodeposition processes for chromium plating, nickel plating, iron plating, cadmium plating, zinc plating, indium plating, lead plating, tin plating, silver plating, gold plating, brass plating, bronze plating, tin-lead plating, zinc-iron plating, and zinc-nickel plating. The article also discusses selective plating, electroforming, and other processes and where they are typically used.

This article describes the basic attributes of the most widely used metal surface cleaning processes to remove pigmented drawing compounds, unpigmented oil and grease, chips, cutting fluids, polishing and buffing compounds, rust and scale from steel parts, and residues and lapping compounds from magnetic particle and fluorescent penetrant inspection. The cleaning processes include emulsion cleaning, electrolytic alkaline cleaning, acid cleaning, solvent cleaning, vapor degreasing, alkaline cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, and glass bead cleaning. The article provides guidelines for choosing an appropriate process for particular applications and discusses eight well-known methods for determining the degree of cleanliness of the work surface.

Surface treatments are applied to magnesium parts primarily to improve their appearance and corrosion resistance. Mechanical and chemical cleaning methods are used singly or in combination, depending on the specific application and product involved to ensure repetitive reliability. This article focuses on mechanical finishing methods, namely, barrel tumbling, polishing, buffing, vibratory finishing, fiber brushing, and shot blasting. It provides useful information on process control and difficulties with chemical and anodic treatments of magnesium alloys. The use and applications of plating and organic finishing of magnesium alloys are also reviewed. The article concludes with a description of health and safety precautions to be followed during the surface treatment process.

This article discusses the properties of threaded fasteners made from carbon and low-alloy steels containing a maximum of 0.55% carbon. It provides guidelines for the selection of steels for bolts, studs, and nuts intended for use at temperatures between -50 and 370 deg C. The article also discusses steels rated for service above 370 deg C and describes internationally recognized grade designations. The specifications provided can be used to outline fastener requirements, control manufacturing processes, and establish functional or performance standards. The most commonly used protective metal coatings for ferrous metal fasteners; zinc, cadmium, and aluminum; are described as well.

This article discusses different types of mechanical fasteners, including threaded fasteners, rivets, blind fasteners, pin fasteners, special-purpose fasteners, and fasteners used with composite materials. It describes the origins and causes of fastener failures and with illustrative examples. Fatigue fracture in threaded fasteners and fretting in bolted machine parts are also discussed. The article provides a description of the different types of corrosion, such as atmospheric corrosion and liquid-immersion corrosion, in threaded fasteners. It also provides information on stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, and liquid-metal embrittlement of bolts and nuts. The article explains the most commonly used protective metal coatings for ferrous metal fasteners. Zinc, cadmium, and aluminum are commonly used for such coatings. The article also illustrates the performance of the fasteners at elevated temperatures and concludes with a discussion on fastener failures in composites.

This article first provides an overview of the types of mechanical fasteners. This is followed by sections providing information on fastener quality and counterfeit fasteners, as well as fastener loads. Then, the article discusses common causes of fastener failures, namely environmental effects, manufacturing discrepancies, improper use, or incorrect installation. Next, it describes fastener failure origins and fretting. Types of corrosion in threaded fasteners and their preventive measures are then covered. The performance of fasteners at elevated temperatures is addressed. Further, the article discusses the types of rivet, blind fastener, and pin fastener failures. Finally, it provides information on the mechanism of fastener failures in composites.

Aluminum or aluminum alloy products have various types of finishes applied to their surfaces to enhance appearance or improve functional properties. This article discusses the procedures, considerations, and applications of various methods employed in the cleaning, finishing, and coating of aluminum. These include abrasive blast cleaning, barrel finishing, polishing, buffing, satin finishing, chemical cleaning, chemical brightening, electrolytic brightening, chemical etching, alkaline etching, acid etching, chemical conversion coating, electroplating, immersion plating, electroless plating, porcelain enameling, and shot peening.

This article describes the allotropic modification and atmospheric corrosion of pure tin. Corrosion of pure tin due to oxidation reaction, and reaction with the other gases, water, acids, bases, and other liquid media, is discussed. The article provides information on corrosion behavior on soft solders, pewter, bearing alloys, tin-copper alloys, and tin-silver alloys. It reviews the influence of corrosion on immersion tin coating, tin-cadmium alloy coatings, tin-cobalt coatings, tin-copper coatings, tin-lead coatings, tin-nickel coatings, and tin-zinc coatings. The general properties and corrosion resistance of tinplate are summarized. The article also describes the methods of corrosion testing of coatings; these include an analysis of coating thickness measurements, porosity and rust resistance testing, solderability test, and specific special tests.

This article describes the four major conditions that can cause beryllium to corrode in air. These include beryllium carbide particles exposed at the surface; surface contaminated with halide, sulfate, or nitrate ions; surface contaminated with other electrolyte fluids; and atmosphere that contains halide, sulfate, or nitrate ions. The article provides information on the behavior of beryllium under the combined effects of high-purity water environment, stress and chemical environment, and high-temperature environment. The compositions of the structural grades for intentionally controlled elements and major impurities are tabulated. The article discusses the in-process problems and procedures that are common but avoidable when processing beryllium and aluminum-beryllium composites. It also describes the types of coatings used on beryllium and aluminum-beryllium. These include chemical conversion coatings, anodized coatings, plated coatings, organic coatings, and plasma-sprayed coatings.

This article is a compilation of terms related to surface engineering of irons, steels, and nonferrous metals.

This article is a comprehensive collection of terms related to corrosion fundamentals, testing, and protection.