Ed..... I'm glad to see you're still "with this" as I was curious as to what stage you were at. I'm by no means a plating expert, but seriously intrigued by the whole process and your findings, so I've been wondering and watching myself (as I know a few other here are as well, by the number of views I see).
Bearings,huh? Hmmmmm. This is a long shot, but do you have any test equipment around there that you can take advantage of? I'm curious as to the hardness of the coating and actual thickness after elevated hours of use in a pressurized environment. Could it be lack of wear was helped via lubrication as well? .0005 *should* be a sufficient measurement to see if it were to degrade, I must admit. Keep me posted on that,k?
1) Did you try other solvents? Hydrochloric or possibly something in the oppsite direction but just as caustic to take the oils out of the pores? Normally I'd say mineral spirits, but bearings are usually a "higher end" alloy or at the very least heat treated. Perhaps if you were to test just the cleaning process alone on say... cast steel or cold rolled would you get the same "wetness" issues? How much of a miniscus was left on the bead of water. Was it a well rounded droplet, or did it still cling but have an angle enough to still hold tension? Again... I'm not a plater so I don't know how much surface tension applies to this substrate. Possibly heat treating enough to drive out any oils or smut would help the process? Along with you... I'm taking guesses here as I'm just as curious. I'd have to imagine a hypereutectic alloy would give you the same sort of result due to impregnation of non-alloy. The best advice I can give is to try it on various substrates and see if you get like-minded results. If it doesn't happen on any other metal but your bearings or exotic alloys... then you know it's an impregnation issue I'd assume.
2) you'd have to get an MSDS from Caswell directly I'd think for content. Even if not listed there, I'm sure somebody at Caswell could get in touch with the manufacturer or formulator if it's that big of an issue.
3) Again... most of that is a "platers" territory. I'd assume a bearing surface is MORE than sufficient test for what you are looking for. I'd also perhaps try coating the skirt of a piston or two to see what that achieves. Why not... the crank and connecting rods are out anyways,right? What about coating the piston rings? You don't get any better wear indicator than a piston ring O.D. as they probably take the most abuse in any engine and you'd know your results in a very short while.
Keep us all posted. This is turning out to be a very interesting topic (at least for yours truly). High lubricity with heat resistance? That's a great thing. I bet anybody with a turbo or supercharger would be overjoyed to hear about this kind of product once you have your testing completed. ( $$$) . Just food for thought..... Thanks again for the update... Russ
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