Your Trusted Black Oxide Plating Shop in Racine, WI
With decades of experience and a commitment to the latest technology and environmental stewardship, we understand the diverse and exacting requirements of Racine’s industrial landscape. Whether you manufacture automotive components, aerospace hardware, electronics, or industrial equipment, L & L Metal Finishing offers the expertise and flexibility to meet your needs — from prototype runs to high-volume production. Our local facility ensures quick turnaround times, personalized service, and the highest standards of quality and compliance.
Black Oxide Plating Services in Racine: Superior Protection Without Dimensional Change
One of the core services we provide at L & L Metal Finishing is black oxide plating, a chemical conversion coating process that imparts a rich, deep black finish on ferrous metals like steel and iron. This finish is particularly valued in Racine’s manufacturing community for its excellent corrosion resistance, cost-effectiveness, and the fact that it preserves the exact dimensions of the parts.
- No Dimensional Change: Our black oxide process chemically alters the surface of the metal without depositing or removing material. This ensures that tight tolerances are preserved — a critical factor for precision parts in automotive engines, aerospace components, and industrial machinery.
- Durable and Long-Lasting Finish: Unlike paint or powder coatings, black oxide will not peel, chip, or rub off. It chemically bonds to the metal surface, offering a tough, uniform finish that stands up to abrasion and handling.
- Excellent Corrosion Resistance: While black oxide itself offers limited corrosion protection, its porous nature allows post-treatment oils or rust inhibitors to penetrate deeply. These treatments create a barrier that helps parts resist rust, even in Racine’s humid summers and snow-salt winters.
- Retention of Surface Properties: The finish retains the metal’s original polish and hardness, preserving the functional properties of the substrate — whether that’s a glossy surface or a hardened steel component.
- High Heat Tolerance: Black oxide coatings withstand continuous exposure up to 900°F (482°C) before any color fading occurs, making them ideal for engine parts and aerospace hardware exposed to extreme heat.
Our hot black oxide plating service is designed for maximum flexibility, handling both small batches for prototyping and high-volume production orders to support Racine’s busy manufacturing sector. We strictly adhere to MIL-C-13924 military specifications, giving our customers confidence in the consistency and reliability of our finishes.
The black oxide plating process begins with meticulous cleaning and preparation to remove oils, rust, and surface contaminants. This step is crucial to ensure the chemical conversion takes place evenly. The parts are then immersed in a hot alkaline solution that converts the steel surface to magnetite, creating the distinctive black finish. Finally, parts undergo post-treatment with oils or sealants to enhance corrosion resistance.
- Benefits for Racine’s Automotive Sector: Racine’s automotive suppliers heavily rely on black oxide coatings for fasteners, brackets, and engine components. The coating’s durability and corrosion protection extend the service life of these parts, especially when exposed to road salt during winter months — a common challenge in Wisconsin. Additionally, the finish’s uniform appearance boosts the aesthetic appeal of visible parts, supporting manufacturers’ quality standards.
- Advantages for Aerospace and Industrial Manufacturing: For aerospace and industrial manufacturers in Racine, dimensional accuracy and material integrity are paramount. Black oxide plating provides a protective finish without altering dimensions or substrate hardness, ensuring critical components fit perfectly and maintain mechanical strength. The coating also helps reduce friction and wear when paired with proper lubrication, contributing to overall equipment reliability.
Electroless Nickel Plating: Hard, Uniform, and Corrosion-Resistant Coatings
Beyond black oxide, L & L Metal Finishing offers electroless nickel plating (EN) — a specialized metal finishing service that deposits a uniform nickel-phosphorus alloy coating onto parts without the need for electrical current. This process ensures consistent thickness over all surfaces, including complex geometries, threads, blind holes, and recesses.
Why Choose Electroless Nickel Plating?
- Superior Hardness and Wear Resistance: The as-plated coating has a Rockwell hardness of 45-50 Rc and can be heat-treated to 60-65 Rc, providing excellent abrasion resistance. This makes EN plating ideal for parts subjected to mechanical wear or harsh operating environments.
- Uniform Thickness: Unlike electroplating, electroless nickel plating deposits evenly regardless of part shape, preventing uneven buildup on edges or corners that can affect fit or function.
- Corrosion Protection: EN coatings create a barrier against chemical exposure, oxidation, and rust — essential for aerospace and industrial components.
- Meets Military and Aerospace Specifications: Our plating process conforms to MIL-C26074 and AMS 2404, meeting the high standards required by defense and aerospace manufacturers.
- Cost-Effective Alternative: EN plating often replaces expensive hard chrome plating or costly alloy materials, reducing costs without compromising performance.
Application in Racine’s Aerospace and Industrial Sectors
Racine is home to a growing aerospace supply chain and a variety of industrial machinery manufacturers. Many of these companies turn to our electroless nickel plating service to enhance the durability and lifespan of their precision components. The process is especially beneficial for parts requiring consistent coating thickness in hard-to-reach areas, ensuring maximum protection and performance.
Citric Acid Passivating: Enhancing Stainless Steel Corrosion Resistance Safely
Passivation is a crucial finishing step for stainless steel components, and at L & L Metal Finishing, we use citric acid passivating — a safer, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional nitric acid processes.
What Is Citric Acid Passivation?
This process removes free iron and contaminants from stainless steel surfaces, enriching the naturally occurring chromium oxide layer that gives stainless steel its corrosion resistance. Citric acid passivation meets stringent ASTM A-967 and AMS 2700B standards and is increasingly preferred in industries where worker safety and environmental regulations are a priority.
Benefits of Citric Acid Passivating
- Improves Corrosion Resistance: The process enhances the chromium oxide passive layer, extending the service life of stainless steel parts.
- Removes Manufacturing Residues: It eliminates free iron particles and other contaminants that could cause localized corrosion or reduce part performance.
- Safer and More Environmentally Friendly: Citric acid is less hazardous to handle and dispose of compared to nitric acid, aligning with Racine manufacturers’ sustainability goals.
- Ideal for High-Tech Industries: Our citric acid passivation is widely used by Racine’s medical device, semiconductor, and food processing manufacturers, where contamination control is critical.
Barrel Plating Services: High-Volume, Cost-Effective Plating Solutions
For manufacturers needing large quantities of small parts plated efficiently, our barrel plating services provide a perfect solution. Barrel plating involves placing parts in a rotating barrel during the plating process, allowing for excellent coverage, burnishing, and descaling.
- Uniform Finish: The tumbling action ensures even plating and a smooth, polished surface.
- High-Volume Capacity: Barrel plating can process significantly larger quantities of parts at once compared to rack plating.
- Cost-Effective: Labor and material costs are reduced, making barrel plating ideal for production runs with tight budgets.
- Versatile Applications: We plate a variety of parts for the electronics, automotive, and industrial sectors using barrel plating.
Importance for Racine’s Electronics and Automotive Industries
Racine’s electronics manufacturers benefit from barrel plating’s ability to uniformly coat thousands of small connectors and components quickly, meeting the demands of rapid assembly lines. Automotive suppliers use barrel plating for fasteners and small hardware, taking advantage of its speed and cost efficiency to stay competitive.
Racine’s manufacturing ecosystem is diverse, ranging from automotive parts suppliers and aerospace component producers to industrial equipment manufacturers and electronics fabricators. Our metal finishing services are engineered to support these industries by enhancing part durability, corrosion resistance, and aesthetic appeal.
- Automotive: Racine’s proximity to major automotive hubs means suppliers must produce parts that withstand road salt, moisture, and temperature fluctuations. Black oxide plating with post-treatment oils offers durable corrosion protection, while barrel plating efficiently handles high volumes of small fasteners.
- Aerospace: Aerospace manufacturers demand coatings that meet stringent specifications for reliability and performance. Electroless nickel plating and citric acid passivation are widely used to meet these requirements.
- Industrial: For general machinery and tooling, our finishing services protect parts from wear and corrosion, reducing downtime and maintenance costs.
- Electronics: Racine’s electronics manufacturers require precise, uniform finishes on small components, which barrel plating effectively delivers.
Why Racine Manufacturers Choose L & L Metal Finishing
Choosing L & L Metal Finishing means choosing a partner who understands Racine’s manufacturing demands and delivers proven metal finishing expertise.
- Local Expertise: Our facility’s proximity to Racine ensures quick turnaround, lower logistics costs, and personal service.
- Compliance and Quality: We strictly adhere to military and aerospace standards, ensuring your parts meet or exceed required specifications.
- Flexibility: From small prototype runs to massive production volumes, we tailor our processes to your timeline and budget.
- Environmental Responsibility: We implement safer, greener processes like citric acid passivation to protect workers and the environment.
- Experienced Team: Our trained technicians leverage decades of experience to optimize finishing processes and solve complex challenges.
- Customer Collaboration: We work closely with your engineers and production teams to develop finishing solutions that align with your product goals.
At L & L Metal Finishing, we are proud to serve Racine and its surrounding areas.
Please refer to the map below for our service area.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of metals do you black oxide plate?
How does black oxide plating protect parts from corrosion?
Will black oxide plating change the dimensions of my parts?
What standards do your coatings comply with?
Can you handle both small and large production runs?
Need a Black Oxide Plating Shop in Racine, WI?
If you’re looking for a dependable, quality-focused black oxide plating shop in Racine, L & L Metal Finishing is your local expert. Our commitment to quality, precision, and customer service has made us a trusted metal finishing partner for Racine’s manufacturers across automotive, aerospace, electronics, and industrial sectors.
Contact us today to discuss your project. Whether you need black oxide plating for corrosion-resistant automotive parts, electroless nickel plating for aerospace components, stainless steel passivation for medical or food-grade tools, or high-volume barrel plating for electronics, we have the experience and equipment to deliver exceptional results. We’re here to protect your parts, improve their performance, and help your business succeed in a competitive marketplace.