Telecom Market And Custom Metal Finishing

Metal finishing refers to a process known as deposition. It involves the application (deposition) of a metal coating on a component or workpiece to enhance its function, appearance or overall performance. The range of metals that can be applied to a substrate (surface), as well as those acting as the depositing layer, makes the process popular one with many industries. This includes the telecommunication industry where, because of the increasingly sophisticated and miniature technology, custom metal finishing is the solution to several potential risks that would exist without it.

Metal Finishing Process and Miniaturization

Telecommunication devices are increasingly getting smaller. Yet, consumers expect them to retain this small size while providing them with faster speeds, functionality and durability. Telecommunication companies recognize the best way to accomplish this is to rely on metal finishing shops. The metal finishing process will provide the coatings that will protect the devices in their operating environment.

While standard metal finishing does occur in the telecommunications industry, the emergence of increasingly smaller devices pushes them to require customized treatment of their parts. The finishing process may remain the same. The possibilities include the following:

• Anodizing
• Electro or electroless plating: This is one of the most common and popular forms of finishing. Commonly telecommunication industries ask for gold and silver plating, as well as electroless nickel plating
• Industrial powder coating
• Passivation: This is another popular means of finishing a product
• Thin film coating

However, the devices provide some challenges to the finishing process. While the need is to improve the aesthetics, durability, corrosion resistance, longevity and performance of the workpiece or component, certain issues need to be addressed. These include:

• Small size
• Unusual or unique shapes
• Specific qualities: Solderability, radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding
• Precision masking: This involves the masking of the parts the manufacturer does not want the finishing shop to coat. This presents difficulties because of the size of the component or its shape

As a result, the best approach is for those in telecommunications to consult with the experts about custom metal finishing. It can handle the various problems in such applications as switchgears, electronic exterior housings, bus bar and electronic brackets.

Custom Metal Finishing

In today’s world, technology pushes ahead to provide various challenges to the metal finishing industry. Today’s increasing move towards miniaturization has presented many opportunities to finishing shops to provide specialized services to meet the increasing demand. The result has been the rise in custom metal finishing to fill the need for components that can function and endure in their environment.