Electroless Nickel Boron Nitride Coating Case Study

Electroless Nickel Boron Nitride Coating

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Meet our Customer Needing Electroless Nickel Boron Nitride Coating

When you’re a medical device manufacturer making pulmonary compression vests for people suffering from chronic lung disease, millions of lives depend on you. Literally. Every part of the device needs to work seamlessly — and in unison—to properly compress and depress air pockets that create improved airflow, helping wearers to breathe, not just easier, but period.

Obstacle

Before coming to us, our customer was having a difficult time with an uncoated cast magnesium part that experienced consistent wear. The part rotated with other pieces in the device and would often cause them to wear out as well. Though magnesium is lightweight and durable, a perfect fit for the device, its uncoated surface lacked the necessary lubricity to make it the true workhorse it can be. With so few plating companies offering magnesium coating, our customer was ready to throw in the towel and switch to aluminum for anodizing. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but without a fix, they would lose the project.

Up for the Challenge

By the time our client contacted us, they had been resigned to the belief that they would  have to switch the problematic part to aluminum. We knew there was a better solution. With our vast experience in magnesium coating, we worked to find a material that delivered high lubricity to fix the problem. We started with Electroless Nickel PTFE and after rounds of testing we realized it left a powder residue as it broke down. When our hardworking team decided to test our exclusive Electroless Nickel Boron Nitride coating, we got the results our customer needed to keep the project alive. Our coating provided durability, lubricity and a major sigh of relief.

Impact

Having a dedicated magnesium specialty line allowed us to quickly pivot to the right solution and deliver a unique approach that helped our customer come through for their customer, and the people relying on the compression vest. We plated thousands of pieces, knowing that each made a difference in someone’s life.

“When you offer something very few others can,
you’re able to come at your customer’s problem from
many angles and reach the best solution possible.”

—Don Ytterberg, CEO, Advanced Surface Technologies

Do you have a specific project in mind? Please contact us to find out how we can assist you starting from the designing stage to make your product even better and more cost efficient.