Repairing an aluminum engine cylinder with a nikel sila carb

[Abarber]

I have been reading about the nickel composite coatings using sila carbide. It looks like they are mixing
3 micron sila carbide into the plating solution, to create a composite plating Has this ever been tried with one of your kits?

[mcaswell]

Not that we know of?

[Abarber]

I have been reading about various nickel composite processes and I see that some use the electoless nickel plating process.
Is one process better than the other for producing a durable mechanical coating. Which adheres to the aluminum better?

[Abarber]

This is a description of the process, as you can see it refers to both processes.

This method is comprised of: adding an appropriate amount of ceramic fine powder such as silicon carbide or boron nitride to an electroless nickel bath or electric nickel bath; plating under agitation; depositing and compounding these fine powder into a plating film simultaneously with the plating; and baking the plating film as required to form a hard layer on the surface .

[mcaswell]

Is one process better than the other for producing a durable mechanical coating.

No. EN is better at plating items with recessed areas, such as fins or tubes. It's more expensive to operate and requires a non-metallic, temperature resistant plating tank because the solution must be heated close to boil. For this reason, most of our customers use it for smaller items. Getting and heating large ceramic or glass tanks can be limiting.

Which adheres to the aluminum better?

Both adhere poorly without a pre-dip in Zincate (http://www.caswellplating.com/zincate.htm).

This method is comprised of: adding an appropriate amount of ceramic fine powder such as silicon carbide or boron nitride to an electroless nickel bath or electric nickel bath; plating under agitation; depositing and compounding these fine powder into a plating film simultaneously with the plating; and baking the plating film as required to form a hard layer on the surface.

We haven't attempted this, but you're welcome to experiment and let us know your results.

[mcaswell]

We'll be bringing out a Boron Nitride Composite/Electroless Nickel System
which suit your purposes.

Watch the web page for details.