Electrochemicals Blog – EPI – Electrochemical Products Inc.

April 3rd, 2008

By Eric Olander

I participated in the annual NASF Milwaukee Branch Five Minute Supplier showdown held on April 1st,2008 This quick five minute presentation was about the Diphenyl Carbazide(DC) , indicating hexavalent chrome after ASTM B-117 salt spray testing, controversy that Tom Rochester discussed in the October 2007 issue of Plating Surface Finishing magazine. Tom discovered that you take a trivalent chromate and test it with DC prior to salt spray and it tests negative for hex chrome. After ASTM B-117 salt spray the test  was positive.

EPi we used the test method ISO 3613:2000(E) section 5.6 using a spectrophotometer both prior and after salt spray with negative results in both tests. We also tested our E-Chrome Ultra Blue and E-Chrome Ultra Yellow using Tom Rochester method after salt spray. We found out that our trivalent chromates do not test positive using the DC method.

Eric also talked briefly on a new trivalent yellow E-Ultra Yellow 300 that will be coming out this summer . Eric will be giving a more detail about this presentation on June 17th,2008 at Sur/Fin's technical conference Automotive Symposium Track II at 2-5 PM in Indianapolis, IN at the Indy Convention center.

Posted in Eric Olander Happenings, Metal Finishing, Trivalent Chromates | No Comments »