PRODUCTIVE MATERIAL NO: MS-4052
SPECIFICATION
REV: C
ADM I-001
TITLE: ZINC PLATING DATE: 08 OCT 08
PAGE: 1 of 4 PAGES
ORIGINATED BY: FINAL APPROVAL:
J. Dharte, Laboratory Quality Manager/ Senior Chemist S. Cook, Director, Metallurgy & Materials Engineering
1. SCOPE
This specification covers the basic requirements for electroplated zinc applied to iron and steel substrates with
provision for plating thickness, use or non-use of supplementary treatments and corrosion resistance.
Provision is also made to specify mechanical plating.
1.1 Material Description
This coating system must be free of hexavalent chromium. Table 1 lists the common types of finishes
covered by this specification. The designation for the coating will be spelled out as follows: (1) the first
one or two digits depict the minimum plated metal thickness in micrometers; (2) the character that
follows indicates the use or non-use of supplementary treatment; (3) the Neutral Salt Spray (NSS) hours
to base metal/white corrosion are shown next.
2. REFERENCES
2.1. DIN 946, Standard Methods for Determining the Coefficient of Friction.
2.2. GM4298P, Test Method for Salt Spray.
2.3. GM9501P, Test Method For Chemical Resistance.
2.4. GM9071P, Test Method For Tape Adhesion.
2.5. SAE/USCAR, Test Procedure Issued by SAE that was written by the United States Council for
Automobile Research (USCAR)
3. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
3.1. Supplier shall submit at least two dozen parts that have been properly coated to this specification along
with the test data called out in Section 4., to American Axle & Manufacturing Corporate Materials
Laboratory, for initial approval to this specification. All initial submissions must be instigated by AAM
Purchasing (or Designee). Unauthorized submissions are prohibited.
3.2. All material submitted to meet this specification may be subject to analysis, and must be similar in all
characteristics to the material upon which approval was originally granted.
3.3. Any change in material or manufacturing process for the material, requires written approval from the
responsible AAM Department.
3.4. Material shall be free of lead and cadmium except as unintentional impurities, below 0.01 %.
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4 MATERIAL REQUIREMENT STANDARD
All testing performed in this section shall be done in strict conformance to the procedures listed in this
specification.
4.1 Appearance - The as received appearance and color shall be as agreed upon between the purchaser and
supplier using approved color and hue engineering standards when available. In the case of zinc plus
passivation coating listed herein; a clean, commercial finish is required; range of color, iridescence,
opaqueness and sheen are normally not critical unless otherwise specified. In the case of bright zinc
plus clear finishes listed herein; a clear bright appearance (also referred to as colorless, blur-bright and
clear silver-white) is required. Specified colors shall be uniform, tightly adherent, hard and dry.
4.2 Plate Thickness – Thickness of the plating shall be no less than the values shown in Table 1. In the case
of finishes with supplementary treatment, colors etc., the values shown apply to the thickness of the
plating after treatment. Supplementary treatments such as waxes, oils, or other specified coatings are
not applicable to thickness measurements. The plating thickness on bolts and screws shall be measured
on the head and the thread tip on nuts it shall be measured on the spanner flats.
4.2.1 The thickness shall be measured by microscopic examination of cross sections taken
perpendicular to significant surfaces.
4.2.2 The maximum allowable thickness on threaded fasteners shall be twice the minimum specified
plating thickness. The maximum thickness of the plating which may be applied to threads on
threaded products are limited by the thread size. Threads may be produced under/over (before
coating) to accommodate the coating thickness providing the finished product (after coating)
meets all specified mechanical requirements.
4.2.3 The allowable variation of maximum plating thickness in case of non-fasteners could be more
than twice the minimum specified plating thickness as long as it shall not effect the function of
the part.
4.3 Adhesion – The coating shall have good adhesion to the base material. There shall be no blistering, or
flaking of the finish, including after any heat treatment as follows;
The adhesion in the as-received condition shall be evaluated as follows: Expose the plated
parts to 220 +/- 5°C for 30 +/- 5 minutes and quench in water at room temperature. After
quenching in water blistering and or chipping is not allowed.
4.4 Corrosion Resistance - Parts plated to this specification shall be capable of withstanding NSS for the
minimum number of hours shown in Table 1.
4.4.1 The plated parts are to be subjected to (NSS) in accordance with GM4298P and shall show no
white corrosion products and no base metal corrosion (red rust) after the specified hours called
out for that designation in Table 1.
4.4.2 Periodic Testing – A periodic NSS test of parts being produced on each line shall be conducted
using a sample size of 3 pieces minimum per line per shift. Based on the chemical
manufacturer’s
instructions the actual processing control checks shall be made and recorded. The supplier shall
maintain the test results in a file that can be submitted to AAM upon request.
4.4.3 Except for black, color dyed, bright, light iridescent blue and clear coatings the degree of color
change after salt spray is not a significant parameter unless agreed upon by the supplier and
NO: MS-4052 REV: C
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4.5 Hydrogen Embrittlement – All parts heat treated or highly cold worked to specified core hardness
greater than 32 HRC or with surface hardness greater than 35 HRC, which
are processed through hydrogen generating processes, shall be processed per
SAE/USCAR-5 and tested fro de-embrittlement SAE/USCAR-7. The
sample size shall be in accordance with ASTM F1470.
4.5.1 When supplementary treatment is specified for a part that requires baking after plating, the
supplementary treatment shall be applied after the baking operation.
4.6 Torque Tension – Metric Threaded fasteners M6 and larger shall be subjected to torque tension
monitoring through the use of surrogate M10 X 1.5 test bolts. A minimum of ten
bolts
per line / shift shall be monitored per SAE/USCAR-11, except tightening speed shall
be (30 +/-3) RPM. The test results shall be maintained on file. The six sigma torque
range values shall be as listed below:
Thread Size Bolt P/N Nut P/N Torque (N.m) Tension (kN) Coefficient of
Friction
M10 x 1.50 11516105 11516090 48+/- 8 28.3 0.13 +/- 0.03
4.7 Coefficient of Friction – The coefficient of friction shall be as listed above in 4.6 when tested per
DIN946 with the following exceptions:
[Link] – Tightening speed shall be 30 +/- 3 RPM
[Link] - Test samples shall be thoroughly cleaned to remove any grease, oil, wax, or any
contaminants.
[Link] Test clamping force shall be calculated as 75% of proof load.
4.8 Thread locking / Sealing Compatibility – The finish shall be compatible with thread adhesives, non-
metallic elements / sealers used in thread locking / sealing.
4.9 Label Adhesion / Compatibility – This finish shall be compatible with labels in adhesion.
4.10 Processing requirements – For certain applications a post treatment of the electrolytically coated
components – with or without Passivation – may be necessary, using lubricants, waxes, dipping
solutions or other materials. In this case the following suffixes will apply:
T: With or without dipping solution, coefficient of friction 0.13 +/- 0.03 (6-sigma). This suffix is to be
used on fasteners of special applications to meet Torque tension testing, coefficient of friction
testing and thread locking / sealing compatability.
X: with dipping solution only.
G: With or without dipping solution, coefficient of friction 0.13 +/- 0.03 (6-sigma). This suffix is to be
used on general fasteners to meet the basic torque – tension / coefficient of friction requirements.
Y: other material, as specified on drawing. Y suffix could be used along with other suffix in a code if
required (example MS-4052 8K 240 / 120 NY, then describe “Y” on the drawing.
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N: without any dipping solution, lubricant, or any chemical applied.
NOTE: If no suffix to the code is used the provision of suffix N shall apply.
All of the above treatments shall not reduce the corrosion protection of the finish.
Suffix To Minimum Additional Typical Neutral Salt Spray,
hrs.
Basic Number Plating Treatment Appearance
Base Metal Zinc
Thickness
Corrosion Corrosion
m
Product
3U24/0 3 None No Requirement 24
6U48/0 6 None No Requirement 48 ---
9U72/0 9 None No Requirement 72 ---
12U96/0 12 None No Requirement 96 ---
15U120/0 15 None No Requirement 120 ---
6K96/48 6 Passivation Clear Bright 96 48
8K240/120 8 Conv. Coating Clear Bright 240 120
15K360/120 15 Conv. Coating Clear Bright 360 120
8B240/120 8 Pass/Conv Coat Black 240 120
8K500 /168G 8 Pass/Conv Coat Black 500 168
Table 1. Zinc Plating and Related Finishes.
5.0 APPROVED SOURCES
Supplier Material Designation
6. REVISION RECORD
DATE REVISION NUMBER REVISION NOTES
09 NOV 05 A Original issue, was GMW3044
22 JAN 08 B Added section 4.10
08 OCT 08 C Added the 8K500/168G suffix to Table 1.
