Economy and the environment behind new PMD zincs
Keywords: Environment, Plating, Economics
Environmental considerations, economy and ease of use are reportedly behind the launch of the new Zincobrite range of plating solutions from PMD Chemicals,part of the Coventry based PMD Group.
The new products cover the three groups of zinc plating. acid zinc(Zincobrite AZ, HT range), non-cyanide alkaline zinc (Zincobrite OH range) and cyanide zinc (Zincobrite CN range).
The Zincobrite AZ range base solutions is said to contain no complexing agents or ammonia and the additives are VOC free. The working solution is stated to give mirror- bright levelled deposits. Zincobrite HT has the added benefit of being suitable for high temperature operation up to 60 deg C without loss of brightness.
PDM asserts that the Zincobrite OH range also contains no complexing agents leading to suitable effluent treatment. Zero discharge can be achieved by the use of cascade rinsing and feeding the rinse water back to the zinc tank.
The company also states that the Zincobrite CN range uses a concentrated brightener giving a low addition rate of only 40-60 mis per 1000 amp hours. It is used in high, medium and low cyanide solutions giving excellent bright throwing power.
All the Zincobrite processes are said to readily accept passivates. PMD has just released a new range, including trivalent chromium products, under the Zincopass name.
PMD has also launched a new range of easy to use passivates, under the Zincopass brand, these complement its zinc plating product range.
The Trivalent passivates, Zincopass 3 Blue and Zincopass 3 Yellow, are stated to contain no hexavalent chromium and are reportedly state of the art products developed specifically to meet the stringent environmental requirements of the general metal finishing industry.
According to PMD these products have been optimised to give good all round,economical, but high quality corrosion resistance. In addition, Zincopass 3 Yellow is reported to be fluoride free and produces a bright colourless to yellow iridescent finish.
These new passivates add to an existing range of traditional products. For achieving a black chromate on zinc plate, PMD has also produced Zincopass Black,which is said to give a jet black uniform coating with good corrosion resistance.
Zincopass 6 Yellow and Zincopass 6 Blue are described as single stage dip products for chromate finishes on zinc. Here again they have reportedly been optimised to make control easy and are designed to ensure good corrosion protection.
These passivate products complement the new Zincobrite zinc range described above.
Full technical data and Material Safety data sheets are available from PMD(UK) Ltd.
Details available from:PMD (UK) Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 2476 466691; Fax: +44 (0)2476 473034; E-mail sales@pmdgroup.co-uk
