Elsevier

Metal Finishing

Volume 108, Issue 3, March 2010, Pages 12-20
Metal Finishing

Update on alternatives for cadmium coatings on military electrical connectors

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0026-0576(10)00012-7Get rights and content

Summary

The most promising candidate coating processes to replace cadmium and hexavalent chromium in electrical connector applications are technologies that are already being used on electrical connectors to some extent, or demonstrate both considerable promise for the application and sufficient maturity. These include:

  • Electroplated aluminum (AlumiPlate®)

  • Electroplated alkaline zinc-nickel (5–15% nickel in the deposit)

  • Electroplated tin-zinc (at least 20% zinc in the deposit)

Future efforts will focus on these three most promising candidates. In addition, to support efforts being undertaken by electrical connector manufacturers, two EN-based technologies, both incorporating occluded particles, will also be evaluated. Coatings with both CCCs and TCPs will be considered, as available, and cadmium with CCC will be used as the control.

The most promising candidate coating processes from emerging alternatives were also identified. These are technologies that show promise for electrical connector applications, but require further development for the electrical connectors employed by TARDEC. These include:

  • Alloys deposited from ionic liquids

  • Magnetron sputtered aluminum alloys

  • Tin-indium alloys

Future efforts may consider these candidates as the technology matures and becomes more feasible for electrical connectors.

Section snippets

Rob Mason is a Senior Technical Staff Member at Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) in Largo, Fla. In this role, he provides technical support to CTC's clients in government and commercial industry. His current work includes providing support to inorganic coating activities under the NDCEE. Mason has more than 20 years cumulative experience in surface engineering coatings R&D, and testing and evaluation methodology development, and has co-authored upwards of 40 technical publications and

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  • Cited by (0)

    Rob Mason is a Senior Technical Staff Member at Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) in Largo, Fla. In this role, he provides technical support to CTC's clients in government and commercial industry. His current work includes providing support to inorganic coating activities under the NDCEE. Mason has more than 20 years cumulative experience in surface engineering coatings R&D, and testing and evaluation methodology development, and has co-authored upwards of 40 technical publications and presentations on these subjects. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Fairleigh-Dickinson University, N.J. Prior to joining CTC, Mason spent six years at OMG-Fidelity, where he was heavily involved in product formulation and development, as well as technical service engineering. He is a member of the National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF), ASM International, NACE International, and Toastmasters International.

    Margo Neidbalson is CTC's Program Deputy for the National Defense Center for Energy and Environment (NDCEE). In this role, she supports NDCEE Program management and operation activities. Her past technical efforts have been concentrated on evaluating hazardous plating chemistry alternatives on several NDCEE projects (non-cyanide silver plating non-line-of-sight hard chromium alternatives, and removal of cyanide-bearing chemistries at Corpus Christi Army Depot), where she provided laboratory support in the evaluation and analysis of alternatives to various inorganic finishing chemistries. Neidbalson holds a B.S. in Biology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a M.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

    Dr. Melissa Klingenberg is a Principal Technical Advisor at CTC, providing overall support to the Environmental Technologies Discipline with particular emphasis in the laser decoating and inorganic finishing areas. Her primary inorganic finishing responsibilities lie in innovative coating and surface finishing processes, with her areas of expertise being advanced vacuum deposition/surface finishing technologies and plating processes. Dr. Klingenberg received a B.S. in Chemistry and engaged in post-baccalaureate studies in Biology at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. She received an M.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Klingenberg has been an active member of NASF since 1994, and has presented and/or written numerous papers for NASF and AESF events and publications. In 2008, Dr. Klingenberg organized and co-chaired the first ASM International/NASF Surface Engineering for Defense and Aerospace Applications conference. In recognition of her contributions to the industry, Dr. Klingenberg recently received the Award of Merit from NASF.

    Pam Khabra holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Wayne State University. She is the Senior Engineer for the Environmental Team at the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Mich. Her responsibilities include providing support to Program Management Offices for elimination of hazardous materials from tactical systems, and compliance with environmental requirements. Khabra is the Technical Monitor for NDCEE Task 0470, “Cadmium and Hexavalent Chromium Free Electrical Connectors.”

    Carl Handsy holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Wayne State University and a Mechanical Engineering degree from Lawrence Technological University. He worked as research engineer on the DeLorean car at W.R. Grace and Company, and as a Development and Test Engineer at Gulf and Western Manufacturing where he was involved in the development of electrical propulsion for automotive vehicles and load-leveling batteries for the Detroit Edison company. Handsy also worked as a Research Chemist for Occidental Petroleum in metal plating at the Udylite Corporation prior to joining the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Mich., where he is a Senior Materials and Corrosion Engineer.

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