Press and Trade Shows: Technical Papers

High Reliability Surfact Finishing of Critical Components For Smart Weapons and Safe Aircraft
by Marty Borruso

Exacting Process Control

"Our experience with our gold process has taught us the plating business," said Steve Candiloro, operations manager of ETI. He is a chemical  engineer and veteran of some 30 years in the plating "trenches."

He added: "The key concept to our success has been ever-increasing respect for the value of process control in a jobshop environment. Over the past 15 years, we have been amazed at the variety of process variables that affect reflectivity and hardness. De-fining the variables is only part of the problem. How big is the 'window' for each variable? How does the process fit into that window? A properly equipped and staffed wet lab is essential to achieving this kind of process control."

The process control discipline con- cepts that permit day-in and day-out production exceeding 99 percent reflectivity in the mid-IR on such varied substrates as aluminum, molybdenum, stainless, titanium, and beryllium (all gold-plated over a polished nickel), carry over to other ETI processes. For example, the lab plots the analysis of metallic impurities in its proprietary silver* process, a low loss, dense, microwave friendly coating. Trends are plotted between tight upper and lower control limits. The same for the electroless nickel variables such as sodium hypophosphite, nickel metal concentration, temperature and pH.

In the electroless nickels, weighed panels are continuously run so that the. platers are always aware of the bath's plating rate during any particular process period. The matte acid tin bath has an upper control limit of .04 percent organics in the form of carbon. It rarely exceeds half that.

High Tech Clients

ETI's customer list includes highly visible and demanding - companies in the aerospace, electronics, optical and computer industries. "Some of the more interesting jobs we've seen are the ones that really must be done right the first time," Epner said. "Often these projects are frightening because of the awesome value of the part to be plated and because there could be no stripping if there was a problem.

"An example of such a project involved a 40-inch diameter telescope mirror fabricated in pure beryllium. Our task was to strip the old nickel plating and replatethis priceless mirror blank with.004-in. minimum thickness of our optical grade electroless nickel. The plating had to be pit- and pinhole- free to ensure a perfect surface after polishing. That one didn't get gold. However, we are gold-coating the smaller beryllium infrared secondary mirrors for the Keck Telescope in Hawaii."

ETI's success can be credited to the people who implement the company's philosophy. Key staff includes three chemical engineers, one PhD chemist and one electrical engineer. The company brings a combined 120 years of technical plating experience to bear. The employees are given the "big picture" on the most important projects in the shop - where the hardware they're plating goes, how it functions, and the function of the plating itself.

Epner talked about what the company has had to learn to become successful. "Most of our projects require engineering, and the hardest thing we've had to learn is to take the time to study the entire project. I mean really study it and then communicate with the customer to be sure we can actually do what the specifications require. The plater is usually at or near the end of the manufacturing process and there is a great temptation to short-circuit this process. You know the popular quote: 'Never enough time to do it right...."

A Calculated Furture

ETI is expanding into a nearby 40,000- sq-ft building, but current plans favor keeping employee levels close to the present 50-person work force. The company's approach to future growth is through the route of "strategic" partnership, which involves early engineering input in the design stage of a project. Epner believes specific parts would be more manufacturable and more cost-effectively plated if the design engineer could tap the know- how of the plater at the beginning - rather than at the end of the manufacturing process.

After the plating system is arrived at and tested in a pilot set-up, ETI dedicates production equipment and personnel whose goal is "six sigmas" quality while helping the customer become the lowest cost, quality producer in his market.

About The Author

Marty Borruso, now a consultant to the finishing industry, previously was president of Plating Systems, Inc., Kearny, N J. He was affiliated with that company for more than 15 years. Mr. Borruso has a BS in forensic science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is P&SF's columnist for the "Finishers' Think Tank." His address is 26 Flagship Circle, Staten Island, NY 10309.

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