At S&B Metal Products, we do everything possible to make your projects excel, including metal finishing. Metal finishing is a blanket term for using a secondary kind of metal to cover the entire surface of another metal product (called a substrate) to improve durability and appearance.
Benefits of Metal Finishing
Each metal finishing technique has its own benefits that are unique to what you’re looking for. Ultimately, metal finishing serves many purposes, like:
- Reducing the effects of corrosion and friction
- Priming the surface for paint
- Improving resistance to chemicals and wear
- Enabling the surface to be better for soldering
- Making the substrate stronger for use
- Heightening the appearance of a product by removing surface flaws
- Giving a conductive finish to a surface
Electroplating (also called electrodeposition) uses electrical currents to place metal ions over a substrate. It is a very difficult technique to perfect.
Electroless Plating, similar to electroplating, uses a liquid solution to cover the substrate, but rather than using electricity, the covering is completed through chemical reactions. Several chemicals are added to the plating bath to guarantee the stability of the metal solution.
Passivation can give an extra boost in resisting corrosion. Using metal oxide coating allows engineers to delay rust onset. The wide range of colors can also improve the appearance of the product.
Cladding with heat and pressure strengthens the bonds joining the metal covering to the substrate. It thickens the metal coating with electroplating or electroless plating, and it requires special equipment to do the job correctly.
Electrocoating submerges parts into the coating solution and then adds an electric current. This makes electrically charged paint or epoxy parts (rather than metal ions) join to the substrate surface.
Other metal finishing capabilities include electropolishing, case hardening, hot blackening, soda blasting, abrasive blasting, tumble slurry blasting, buff polishing, powder coating, mass finishing, shot peening, parts cleaning, and vibratory finishing.
Metal Finishing at S&B Metal Products
We have a wide range of approaches for metal finishing. It is crucial to choose the right approach for your project. Contact us today for a quote on your project!