PLATING RESOURCES, Inc.

Surfacing finishing technology

MICRO TUFF
Micro Tuff is a special process Micro Tuff is a long-chain, highly cross-linked polymer, with an organic penetrating agent that is sold in bar form. It is used to impregnate metallic substrates and coatings, thereby, improving surface performance. Micro Tuff polymerizes during application, wherein it takes on synergistic properties. Micro Tuff is impregnated into the micro-crystal structure of the metal. This provides a homogeneous and dense alloy of bonded polymer. Micro Tuff impregnation completely seals off the substrate and imparts time release lubricity to the overall surface ADVANTAGES Reduces Friction Improves Release Increases Lubricity Reduces Wear Improves Product Quality Less Corrosion

Micro Tuff works on the molecular level and performs wherever surfaces interact. It is faster, easier and cheaper to apply than PVD or Plasma coatings and provides much better performance than Teflon and Dry Film coatings do.

Properties
Micro Tuff is a long-chain organic polymer with a dense molecular structure. It contains both High Density Polymers and Special Penetrators that allow impregnation on the molecular level into the crystal structure of the metal. The penetration is complete, thereby, filling the structure with polymer. This effectively seals the surface which greatly improves its performance. Once applied, the Micro Tuff impregnated surface will:

Not change the dimensions. Maintain the same surface color. Be resistant to all solvents. Resist heat to over 1200 F

Benefits
Micro Tuff impregnation improves the surface characteristics of metallic surfaces by increasing Lubricity and reducing both Friction and Corrosion. The Wear Life of components is, thusly, increased by a significant amount.

Micro Tuff was originally developed for chrome plating and has later been expanded to seal virtually any metallic surface. Micro Tuff can be used to improve the following surfaces: tool steel, low alloy steel, stainless steel, thermal spray, aluminum, copper, hard chrome, nickel, electroless nickel and a host of others. Followings are photomicrographs of Micro Tuff impregnated into a chrome plated tool steel surface. Cross Section @ 400X Before Impregnation

Cross Section @ 400X After Impregnation

Increased Lubricity & Corrosion Blocker

Micro Tuff Seals Crack Structure After Plating

Filling the chrome crack structure with Micro Tuff significantly increases the corrosion resistance and a use life of Tooling, Dies, Molds, Rolls, Screws, Rods and Hydraulics. The increased release and greater lubricity makes tooling last longer and gives better performance. Reduced sticking, plate-out, plastic build up and burning results in lower maintenance costs and greater up-time for additional production. Mold cleaners and releases can still be used and Micro Tuff can easily be re-applied to tooling in production while it is still hot for even longer surface life.

Proven Results
6% Increase in Machine Up-Time 20% Increase in Production Rate 50% Reduction in Tool Clean-Up Time 81% Reduction in Re-Chroming Costs Tool Clean-Up Time 50% Reduction Production Rate 20% Increase

Lubricity & Release

The Micro Tuff surface is considerably smoother and has a much lower coefficient of friction. The increase in lubricity provides a unique "non-stick" characteristic with greatly increased release properties. Following are typical static Coefficient Of Friction Values: Coefficient Of Friction Static Steel on Steel: 0.60 Micro Tuff on steel: 0.18 Conventional chrome on steel: 0.16 Micro Tuff on Chrome on steel: 0.04

Reduced Porosity
Micro Tuff fills microscopic porosity in metals and plated coatings. The impregnation into the crystal structure completely seals the substrate. This sealing allows the surface to perform much better.

Adhesion
Adhesion of plated coatings is improved by eliminating the corrosive effect of ions which can undermine the deposit causing a separation of the coating.

Corrosion Resistance
The increase in corrosion resistance is significant as corrosive salts like chlorides cannot penetrate the dense micro structure of the bonded polymers. Independent corrosion tests indicate a typical 65x increase using the Cass Test and a 106x increase using the 5% Salt Spray Test.

Wear Resistance
Testing under real world conditions indicates that Micro Tuff provides a typical increase in wear resistance of between 4 10x when compared to untreated surfaces. Part life is increased up to 10 times and corrosion protection of up to 1,000 hours of ASTM B-117 Salt Spray is reported.

The use of Micro Tuff increases performance and gives you the competitive edge.