Aero Metal Finishing, Inc., St. Louis: Plating, electroless nickel, anodizing, impregnation, and more ...

Mid-America Commerce & Industry, Apr 01, 1997

Aero Metal Finishing of St. Louis, was founded in 1961 to provide metal finishing, plating and specialty painting services to aircraft manufacturers. In the decades that followed, the company expanded its services, processes and the substrates covered to meet the evolving needs of many different industries.

Today, metal finishing involves much more than just dipping parts in a tank. New substrates, new coatings, new specs and changing environmental conditions make it necessary to develop new processes that solve functional problems. Aero Metal Finishing has built a reputation as a technological leader, providing customers with quality metal finishing...on time...on spec...and on budget...that meets their most challenging requirements. (Following are the major services.)

Plating--used in industries to protect against oxide formation (rust) on base metal surfaces, to assist in electrical conductivity, and for decoration. Electroplating deposits metals from solutions onto metallic surfaces by electrolysis. Aero Metal specializes in electroless nickel, zinc and cadmium electroplating to exacting standards.

Electroless nickel--primarily used for functional coatings of metals and non-conductors, electroless plating provides a hard, ductile, year-resistant and corrosion-resistant surface for operation in service up to 1,000 degrees F.

The advantages of this process include uniformity of coverage (even in recessed surface areas), its ability to achieve uniform build-up on complex shapes, metallizing nonconductors and its ability to plate selectively. New uses for electroless nickel plating are constantly being found as new coatings are being developed. The largest use of this process is in the fabrication of aluminum memory disks.

Anodizing--Aero Metal anodizes many metals. However, aluminum is the most popular due to the hard and abrasion resistent anodized surface. Its porous anodic coating also has the ability to be impregnated with various substances such as dyes, pigments and lubricants. Anodizing can achieve a wide range of surface finishes from very bright to dull matte in a variety of colors. It can also enhance abrasion resistance, corrosion resistance or reduce surface electrical conductivity.

Impregnation--used on all ferrous and nonferrous metals including die castings, sand castings, investment castings, pressure castings, powder metal parts and forgings or weldments, impregnation adds value to metal parts. Aero Metal Finishing impregnates a variety of metals including bronze, iron, aluminum, zinc, magnesium, steel and alloys of these metals. Non-metallic materials including plastic, wood and ceramics can also be impregnated.

The United States Department of Defense has established various military specifications which outline impregnating requirements. Aero Metal is certified to current impregnation standards which are the basis on many aerospace, automotive and general industry requirements.

Aero Metal also provides chromate conversion coating, phosphate coating, passivation, liquid spray painting, dry film lubricant, nondestructive testing, dye penetrant inspection and magnetic particle inspection to meet customer needs.

To keep projects running smoothly, Aero Metal recently developed innovative software that is integrated into each process line. When an order comes in, scheduling is discussed and a delivery date is set. Once a promise date has been made, the date cannot be changed unless the customer agrees in advance.

This type of scheduling is made possible because of the teamwork at Aero Metal, which extends from the plant floor...all the way up the line. Plant supervisors meet with sales people each morning and at critical times throughout the day to keep information and products moving. Customer service representatives add the finishing touch by calling customers to keep them updated on job progress.

Whatever the need...from assessing the best finishing method for an application...to quoting prices on processes...and even step in between, Aero Metal helps customers get the job done. Their philosophy is summed up in their slogan--"Customer satisfaction is our goal."

Aero Metal Finishing, Inc. is located at 2150 N. Lark Drive, St. Louis, MO 63026 in the logistic center of the nation. They can be reached by phone at 314-677-1650 or by fax at 314-677-1034. Or by E-mail at aero@inlink.com.