{"id":1851,"date":"2014-08-29T09:27:44","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T14:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/?page_id=1851"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:50:12","slug":"nickel-tin-deposit-prevent-corrosion-protection-zinc-coating","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/technical-library\/plating-topics\/nickel-tin-deposit-prevent-corrosion-protection-zinc-coating\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is a Heavier Nickel or Tin Deposit Required to Provide Equal Corrosion Protection of a Thinner Zinc Coating on Steel?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6075 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1.png\" alt=\"Why is heavier nickel or tin deposit required to provide equal corrosion protection?\" width=\"1920\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1.png 1920w, https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1-300x75.png 300w, https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1-1024x256.png 1024w, https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1-768x192.png 768w, https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Contact-Us-1-1-1536x384.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a>Coatings such as <a href=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/electrolytic-plating\/nickel-plating-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electrolytic nickel<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/electroless-nickel-plating-services\/electroless-nickel-plating\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electroless nickel<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/electrolytic-plating\/tin-plating-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tin<\/a> can provide excellent corrosion resistance but this only occurs if the deposit thickness is sufficient to develop a pore-free surface on a steel substrate.\u00a0 This is due to the fact that nickel or tin protect steel by &#8220;sealing&#8221; the surface from the atmosphere.\u00a0 This method of corrosion protection is due to the fact that the nickel or tin are less reactive (more noble) than the steel basis material \u2013 referred to as a cathodic coating.\u00a0 This is the opposite compared to zinc on steel.\u00a0 Zinc is an extremely reactive (less noble) metal when compared to steel \u2013 referred to as an anodic coating.\u00a0 As such, the\u00a0zinc will corrode in preference to the steel even if the surface is not pore free such as in thin coatings of zinc on steel.\u00a0 This is why white rust (zinc oxide) is seen prior to red rust (iron oxide) on zinc plated fasteners.\u00a0 The zinc sacrifices itself to protect the steel\u00a0until the zinc is consumed near the pore and then red rust begins.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of nickel or tin that is required to achieve a\u00a0certain level of corrosion protection is very much a function of the surface finish (smoothness, burrs, pits, etc..) of the substrate.\u00a0 A smooth surface will require less nickel or tin to achieve good\u00a0corrosion protection as compared to a rough, pitted surface with edge\u00a0burrs.\u00a0 However, a good general guideline is that &#8220;good&#8221; corrosion protection begins around 0.0005 inches (20um) of nickel or tin and &#8220;excellent&#8221; corrosion protection occurs around 0.001 inches (50um) on reasonable substrates.\u00a0 This is very different from an anodic coating such as zinc where the surface condition will not play as large of a role in the overall corrosion performance.\u00a0 In addition, thinner coatings of zinc on steel can afford better corrosion resistance than tin or nickel since zinc coatings do not have to seal the surface to provide scarification corrosion protection.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:quetes@advancedplatingtech.com?subject=General%20RFQ\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5591 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Submit-RFQ-5-e1646066165902.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"342\" height=\"45\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coatings such as electrolytic nickel, electroless nickel or tin can provide excellent corrosion resistance but this only occurs if the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":122,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1851","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7G6ce-tR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8249,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1851\/revisions\/8249"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}