Facilities & Capabilities

 

Facilities & Capabilities

As the largest service provider of aluminum anodizing and hard coat anodizing on the East Coast of the United States, we have a broad range of production capabilities, starting at lab scale, to pilot/development, up to two production lines, one at 6′ and the other at 12′. Each line has a wide variety of capabilities to produce anodic coatings exactly to our customers’ diverse and challenging specifications. We operate one of the most complete and newest metal finishing production line capabilities in the country.

Unlike other anodizers, Precision Coating’s operation allows for rapid turn times. Moreover, the layout of the tank lines, a lean manufacturing culture, rack making and broad masking capabilities, and one of the most experienced operating teams in the industry allows for rapid turn around times and exceptionally low defect levels. Ask for more information about how we can take time out of your job.

Substrate Preparation

In addition to our process capability, Precision Coating can modify the aluminum surface with a variety of pre-treatment steps, including chemical polishing, etching and MicroBlasting. These capabilities allow adjustment of light scattering, producing a matte coating, to light reflection, producing a glossy coating.

Dyes & Coloring

We offer some of the widest color and dying capabilities in our industry for aluminum coloring. To dial in the desired color, we start with the ability to control the clarity of either a Type II or Type III anodic coating. Unlike conventional high voltage hard coat anodizing that darkens the substrate, with undertone shade dependent on the alloy of the aluminum, Low Voltage Hard Coat can produce a clear oxide at thicknesses greater than 1 mil (25 um). 

We have 14 dye tanks and the ability to manipulate dye chemistry in-house, to shift the strike, color tone, color density, and other optical properties of the coating. Moreover, our tank operators’ many years of experience, coupled with strict process controls and our chemistry maintenance program, allows for exceptional color reproducibility between production runs.

We can produce colors that do not fade due to heat or chemical oxidation. Specifically, many re-usable medical products and equipment need to be sterilized between procedures. Two popular sterilization techniques are known for fading colored aluminum anodized articles. Autoclave sterilization uses superheated steam that can oxidize the dye and lead to dye leaching and smutting on the articles surface. Sterilization employs plasma treated hydrogen peroxide gas that can strip the dye causing near complete loss of color. In both these instances, we have validated solutions to create permanent colors and eliminate fading as well as solve the dye leaching and smutting commonplace with other vendors.

Sealing & Treatments

Different seal chemistries are needed depending on the end application and different performance criteria. Precision Coating process capability includes both hydrothermal and precipitating seals. Our seal tanks include conventional dichromate, nickel, magnesium, and hot water seals. All of our processes meet the corrosion specifications of MIL-A-8625 Type II or III, Class 2.

Racking

Precision Coating has a broad inventory of manufactured racks and the ability to manufacture our own racks in house. This allows us to select an optimal rack for each anodizing job, to secure the parts with minimum rack marks and in the desired locations without sacrificing the coating quality and maintain very rapid turn times.

Alloys

We produce the highest quality aluminum anodic coatings on all aluminum alloys, including hard coat on 2000 series alloys with high copper contents that are prone to burning. One of the first recognized benefits of the SANFORD PROCESS Low Voltage Hard Coat rectification technology was its ability to consistently hard coat 2011 and 2024 alloys and produce a very uniform, hard coating whereas conventional hard coat, which uses high voltage, often leads to catastrophic dissolution of the parts – and not a few parts but up to the whole rack!
We also have broad experience in coating cast aluminum parts, which can receive both anodic coatings and hard coat. Unlike other anodizers, we are the only anodizing company with the ability to produce a very high quality, colorable, hard coat on low silicon alloys with thicknesses at 2 mils (50 um) or greater.

Approved Source

Precision Coating is an approved vendor for leading companies globally. Ask us for more information on company approvals as we have likely already been audited and approved by the companies you are working with.