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Limitations on designs are often determined by the properties of the materials used rather than the inventiveness and creativity of the designer or engineer. The designer or engineer may choose a material that possesses all of the essential properties such as strength, weight, and rigidity, while embodying only selected surface properties such as hardness, wear resistance, and conductivity. Selecting the appropriate coating will produce beneficial, engineered surface properties. In general, the suitability of any coating depends on its purpose. Unfortunately, some coatings or combinations of coatings introduce detrimental features to characteristics of the other coatings or even the base material itself. Our goal is to provide a functional, corrosion resistant, metal finishing system consisting of the application of two different coatings which act synergistically to provide enhanced corrosion- and wear resistance.

Environmental and health concerns have created the need for a replacement coating for cadmium and nickel-cadmium-diffused plating. Ion vapor deposition and other alternatives have been proposed, but do not provide all of the coating characteristics and properties obtained from nickel and nickel-cadmium-diffused coatings. Our company has instituted a search for replacement coatings. This paper documents the testing and investigation undertaken in the replacement coating program. Corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and LHE (low hydrogen embrittlement) were the most important criteria for evaluating candidate coatings.