Artistic Plating Featured in Products Finishing Magazine for Expansion in Medical Industry
Artistic Plating to once again Exhibit at 2012 Medical Design and Manufacturing Show in Minneapolis, MN
Artistic Plating Launches Expansion of Precision Tin/Lead and Lead Plating Lines
Artistic Plating Expands with New Flagship Heavy Build Copper Plating Line
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Environmental Issues and ComplianceWhat is RoHS Compliance and How Does it Apply to the Finishing of My Product? The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS directive took effect on July 1, 2006. The directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment.
It is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic e-waste or waste from any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic appliance. In casual conversation, it is often pronounced "Rosh", or "Rose". The directive applies to equipment as defined by a section of the WEEE directive as:
For a plated finish to meet the RoHS directive, it can not contain any of the six banned materials. Artistic Plating leads the industry in RoHS compliant solutions for products in nearly any industry. APC has taken the initiative to switch all in-house chemistries to RoHS complaint varieties where possible and can certify any of our compliant finishes to meet the RoHS directive if required. Artistic also offers a RoHS complaint alernative to hexavalent chromium plating which we call Techni-Crom. Techni-crom is a tin-cobalt topcoat that is generally plated over a bright nickel underplating sililarly to traditional chrome plating. Tin-cobalt has a similar “blue-bright” appearance of chrome but unlike hex chrome is fully RoHS compliant. If you have a product that must be certified to RoHS requirements, Artistic Plating has a breath of finishing solutions to meet your needs. Our Artistic Plating Line Card indicates which finishes can be certified to meet RoHS complaince as well as the MIL and ASTM specifications that the finishes meet. What is REACH Compliance and How Does it Apply to the Finishing of My Product? The European Union’s (“EU”) ” Regulation (EC) 1097/2006 Dec 18 2006) applies to a specific set of chemical substances, when they are a component of a product, or if the substance is intended to be released from an article under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use. In nearly all cases, the actual metal finish on a component falls under the article exemptions of REACH in the that the deposit is not intended to be released from the article under normal use. What does that mean in simple terms? The applied finish is generally an integral part of a product that is not released or separated from the product during normal use. A simple example of a component that is intended to be released would be ink from a ballpoint pen. It is part of the products normal function to release the ink from the pen itself. Conversely, the nickel on a nickel plated fastener is not intended to be released from the article under normal use and as such falls under the article exemption. Artistic Plating can provide additional guidance as it relates to REACH and can help companies fulfill their obligations to their suppliers with this regulation. Contact our Sales Department with any additional questions regarding this recent EU directive. |
FINISH SELECTOR Gold Plating CERTIFICATIONS
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