Frost Welcomes Seamus Bourke - Back!
After a 4 year spell working for Tecan in Weymouth, Seamus has decided to return to his roots and rejoin Frost Electroplating as a New Business Development Manager.
Seamus will be responsible for seeking new business in the aerospace and precision engineering markets and introducing the processes and systems that they require. The processes will include
- high phosphorus electroless nickel,
- PTFE electroless nickel,
- plating on aluminium and titanium
- hard, chromic and sulphuric anodising
- chromate passivation
To meet the requirements of the aerospace market Frost's TS16949 quality approval will be augmented with AS9100 and eventually NADCAP.
Frost are investing £200,000 in this new venture, with a phased installation that should be completed in March 2009.
To find out more please contact Seamus on 0121 236 4135 or sbourke@frost-electroplating.co.uk
Frost Lays Down Another Line
Since 2000 Frost has invested more than £1,000,000 in new reel-to-reel plating lines culminating in Line 8 which will go live in September 2008.
Line 8 has been designed to electroplate large coils, upto 500Kg and OD of 1,000mm of copper alloy and stainless steel strip up to a width of 10 - 120mm and gauge of 0.1 - 1mm. The finishes available are
- Nickel
- Selective Silver Stripes by masking
- Silver
- Selective tin by controlled depth
- Tin
As with Lines 6 & 7, Line has full computer control, monitoring and recording using a touch screen MMI, which is linked into Frost's comprehensive IT network. It also uses counter flow rinsing, masking and tight speed control to minimise the waste of water, chemicals and metals.
Material electroplated on Frost's reel-to-reel lines are found in all manner of electrical switches, mostly in cars and domestic goods, such as jug kettles.
To find out more please contact Hedley Fairbotham on 0121 236 4135 or hfairbotham@frost-electroplating.co.uk
The European Union Regulation on Chemicals (REACH) and Electroplating
Background
The EC REACH Regulation was adopted into EU law in December 2006 and came into force on 1 June 2007. As an EC Regulation, it automatically becomes law in each Member State, so it does not need transposition in the same way an EU Directive would.
The main objectives of REACH are
- To reduce the risk from chemicals to humans and the environment
- To encourage substitution of unsafe substances
- To reduce animal testing
- Restrict or require authorization for substances of very high concern
REACH covers all substances; on their own, in preparations and in articles, and puts the responsibility, on industry to provide safety information and to properly manage the risks arising from their use.
Under the REACH Regulations, manufacturers and importers have a duty to register substances, preparations and in some instances articles, ie if they are designed to release substances and their use.
REACH and Electroplating
Electroplated components are defined as Articles in the REACH regulations and will not need to be registered unless they are designed to release a substance, or the article contains a substance of very high concern. If your articles are designed to release the finish that we have applied, please let us know as you may need to register them. None of the electroplated finishes supplied by Frost have been classified as substances of very high concern; yet.
The metal that is deposited in electroplating or chemicals that may be co-deposited, for example an anti-tarnish treatment do have to be registered. However since these are fairly basic substances their registration will be completed by our suppliers, theirs or even further up the supply chain. What is important is that their use in electroplating is part of that registration.
Our suppliers are well aware of the implications of REACH and have formed working parties through their trade bodies in the UK and Europe to ensure a coordinated response. Part of the registration process will require the collection of information about the use of the substances they supply, employee exposure in their use and emissions to the environment. This work has not yet started as not all the relevant technical guidance documents (RIPs) have been published by the European Commission.
