Automated Chromium Plating Line for Gun Barrels
Abstract
This project was undertaken to establish a prototype automated chromium plating line for processing small caliber gun tubes. The automated line consists of a loading rack, electropolish tank, cold water rinse tanks, hot water rinse tank, chromium reverse etch tank and a chromium plating tank. The process involves automatic transference of racks containing the gun tubes to the various tanks in accordance to a programmed cycle. Parameters selected for the automated process were 2 asi and 4.5-minute process time to remove approximately 1.0 mil of stock during electropolish; and 2.5 asi and 50-minute plating time to deposit 1.0 mil of chromium plate. The feasibility of the automated process was shown and 12 out of 24 processed gun tubes were within the acceptable internal dimension range. Six additional gun tubes were within 0.1 to 0.2 mil of the acceptable bore diameter range. The quality of the chromium plate was satisfactory in all cases. The major difficulty in the automated process is the control of stock removal during the electropolish cycle. The elimination of the electropolish sequence is recommended with the use of rotary swaged gun tubes sized to pre-plating dimensions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA079528
Entities
People
- John D. Rowe
- Joseph M. Bish