Corrosion in Copper Components

Q: Can I apply a CP product in a spray application?
A: Yes, you can. A lot of these products are designed to be used in either a spray application or an immersion application. That is a possibility, just make sure that the product is right for that application.
Q: What if I only need CP for a few months out of the year?
A: Like I was saying in the presentation, a lot of times the CP or RP processes are set up in the washer where you add your wash stage and then your rinse stage. Often, that RP or CP is applied in the rinse stage or it’s in a tank following the washer. In either case, simply change out your rinse to water and stop adding the RP.
Q: Once the CP is added to the parts, will it affect further processes?
A: Generally, No. It does not affect anything, such as equipment issues or further machining or processes to the parts. If you are checking the parts for size and you are using sensitive micrometers, sometimes the CP, depending on the percentage it’s on, can throw it off a little bit, but very rarely does this occur.
Q: Can I plate directly over corrosion inhibitors?
A: I would say that when you’re plating your parts, you want them to be as clean as possible. Fortunately, a plating line will have a pre-cleaning step in it where it’s going through a series of dip tanks, and it will include a cleaning stage. This typically should be enough to remove the corrosion inhibitors, but you cannot plate directly. You would want to remove them, and you would need your surface as clean as possible to get as even of a plate as possible
Q: My parts are often shipped overseas and will likely be spent a couple weeks on a ship. What type of protection should I be using?
A: On a ship there is a lot of humidity in the air and water everywhere, usually the heat is high. In most cases I would recommend a wet film just to make sure there is no doubt in protecting the parts. Also, what you can do if you want to use a dry film through an aqueous process, you can do that. Put the dry film protection on your parts and then wrap it in VCI paper. It should be fine over its voyage.