Surface Mineralization as an Alternative to Cadmium Plating and Hexavalent Chromate Treatment for Corrosion Protection

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of a surface mineralization process for general corrosion protection. More specifically, this paper describes the use of surface mineralization (SM) as a non-hazardous and environmentally benign alternative to cadmium plating and hexavalent chromate treatment for protecting fasteners from corrosion in off highway applications.

An engineered surface is founded on a mineral-based product that forms a thin metal silicate surface fully involving the substrate metal.

Completed laboratory cyclic testing of SM treated fasteners compared with cadmium plated and hexavalent-chromate treated fasteners to 180 cycles using the GM 9540P protocol have demonstrated a significant increase in corrosion resistance of components protected by the SM process.