Zinc Nickel Market Continues Rapid Growth
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Columbia Chemical has been consulted heavily by OEMs and Tier suppliers on the topic of zinc nickel as the finish is incorporated into additional OEM specs and the market continues to grow.

Zinc-Nickel has increasingly become the finish of choice for many industries with high corrosion and high-performance needs. It is a rapidly growing segment of the electroplating market, nearly quadrupling in (read more)
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In any electroplating process, cleaning is a critical step. Without proper cleaning and pretreatment of the part, a number of plating issues can arise, such as poor adhesion to bath contamination to dullness and pitting. Clean surfaces that are free from oils, soils, and oxides will allow for optimum plating adhesion. Columbia offers a complete line of pretreatment products that provide dependable cleaning of surfaces to be plated and a variety of product combinations to overcome the most complex pretreatment challenges. View our Line Card here.
TriCOL® Reclaim interest is surging from environmentally conscious OEMs focused on color, corrosion protection and performance, and actively committed to replacing their decorative Cr (VI) technology.
Tech Feature: Q&A Clinic on Nickel Leveling
Chad Murphy, Technical Account Manager, was recently featured in the Ask the Expert column in Products Finishing magazine. Read his article below.

Q. We run a duplex nickel system and plate parts for the automotive industry. We are currently experiencing issues trying to improve leveling, but we are failing CASS (copper accelerated salt spray) testing early.

A. There are several issues to work through here, but first let’s recognize these are common frustrations when running duplex nickel systems. Due to the numerous components involved in nickel processes, many applicators are confused by the potential causes for common issues such as poor leveling, coverage, and a loss of corrosion protection and may not know where to begin.
One of the first things to look at is to ensure all (read more)
Elevating Surface Finishing to an Art Form
Pictured here is a feature from an art exhibition in New York titled Namsal Siedlecki: Viandante, where sculptures of a human figure, meant to represent the traveling person referenced in the title, are placed within a galvanic tank that initiates a continual process of material loss and gain. While complete upon entry, the sculptures start a new journey within this chemical bath, one of transformation and unending change.

PHOTO: Namsal Siedlecki's Viandante, 2021, part of the exhibition Namsal Siedlecki: Viandante at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, October 29-December 4, 2021. Photo by Alexa Hoyer. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art. 
Despite being the worldwide Zinc plating experts for more than 45 years, Columbia Chemical experienced a first recently when our Zinc plating process was utilized in an art exhibit in New York. How does something like this come about? It begins in a location that represents one of the most dominant influences in the evolution of art: Italy. Located in San Giuliano Milanese, Italy, is (read more)
Our Trivalent Passivates Lead the Industry for a Reason
Columbia Chemical's existing line of industry leading trivalent chromium-based passivates is hexavalent chromium free, complies with current ELV, RoHS and REACH regulations and consistently meets and exceed OEM standard for corrosion protection. These products offer a trivalent passivation layer that is clear, blue, yellow, black or iridescent. High demand passivates include SpectraMATE 25, COLDIP NI-Z Sapphire 400, COLDIP NI-Z Black Diamond 500 and COLDIP Midnight 1500.
When asked what drives the decision to use our trivalent passivates, customers say: "it comes down to the fact that they are (read more)
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