Specialty Testing and Development Company

More About Specialty Testing and Development Company

Internal stress exists as an inherent force within electroplated and chemically applied metallic deposits. This induced stress can be tensile or compressive in nature, causing the deposit to contract or expand in relation to the base material. High levels of stress in deposits produce micro-cracking and macro-cracking, and in severe cases produce a lack of deposit adhesion in the form of blistering, peeling, and flaking. Two ways to evaluate the internal deposit stress in metallic coatings are the bent strip Deposit Stress Analyzer and the Spiral Contractometer systems. These represent two stress test procedures that have approval status by the American Society for Testing Metals Standards.