Is There a Mil Spec for Alternatives to Cadmium Finishes?

[dingpud]

Does anyone know if there is a published Military Specification which gives suitable alternatives to Cadmium finishes on hardware?

Thanks,

 

[brewnog]

No idea about the military specifications, but tin-zinc coatings are an industry standard for applications where cadmium has been blacklisted.

 

[nucleus]

Mil spec are no longer kept up to date by the military. They were taken over by SAE and now start with an “A” for aerospace specs. You could check with SAE to see if they have made a replacement spec.

Otherwise I found this company that lists ASTM-B-633 which replaced the old standard which was QQ-C-416:

http://www.dfcis.com/dzfinish.html#rohs

 

[dingpud]

That's the one I've been looking for...thanks.

Correct, new specs aren't upkept by the Gov't, but there are a lot of specs out there which are still active and can be found at the following link:

http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/

The search engine is kind of sensitive, so when typing in a number, make sure you don't have any numbers included.

One other nice thing with this site is if a spec is inactivated, they will typically list what the superceding document number is...

Thanks again for ASTM B 633...

 

[FredGarvin]

It all depends on what you are looking for. Obviously you found what you need. The best thing to do is to talk someone into getting a license for an on-line specs service like IHS. All you would have to do is look up the MIL spec and it would tell you all you need including the cancellation and the new SAE or equivalent controlling spec.

 

[jay3marsh]

Cadmium can be replaced by vapor depositiong aluminum as covered under mil spec 83488.

Ion Vapor depostion of aluminum may be used. Also, sputtered aluminum satisfies 83488. Information on sputtering equipment for such aluminum coatings can be received from John Marshall, jay3marsh@aol.com

 

[jay3marsh]

Cadmium can be replaced by vapor deposition aluminum as covered under mil spec 83488.

Ion Vapor deposition of aluminum may be used. Also, sputtered aluminum satisfies 83488. Information on sputtering equipment for such aluminum coatings can be received from John Marshall, jay3marsh@aol.com