Nickel Teflon (Nitribol)

Nickel Teflon, NiPTFE or Teflon nickel include electroless nickel PTFE (Teflon ) coating provides good sliding properties, dry lubrication, low friction and has good release properties.

By combination of PTFE (Poly – Tetra – Fluor – Ethylene , also called Teflon) and electroless nickel , wherein the PTFE is present as small particles (0,2μm) uniformly distributed throughout the electroless nickel coating can produce a coating (NITRIBOL), also known as nickel Teflon, with a great many technical properties of high value.

PTFE, also known under the name TEFLON by Dupont, is a polymer that has good release properties , low friction, chemical resistance and high temperature resistance (300 degrees Celsius).

In the production of a material consisting of PTFE and chemically nickel (a metal glass), you can combine the two properties of matter in a so-called composite nickel Teflon / NITRIBOL , and thus obtain an increased abrasion resistance and greater hardness compared to PTFE, while suppressing the unfortunate properties, witch a chemical nickel surface can have. The disadvantages for chemical nickel can be high friction and adhesive wear by dry running.

Coating hardness can be increased by heat treatment.

Nickel Teflon is suitable for dry lubrications applications etc.
Nickel Teflon / NITRIBOL are especially suitable for surfaces where desired dry lubrication to counter adhesive wear / reduction of friction between surfaces in dynamic contact. The advantage of nickel Teflon coating is that PTFE is continuously released through a situation with wear.

Nickel Teflon / NITRIBOL have been applied to solving wear problems in butterfly valves, when chromium-nickel steel has been used as a construction material.

There has also been achieved some references to plating of various plastic and rubber molds, wherein the coating has improved release properties to such an extent that the application of release agents has been made redundant. This has particularly attracted the interest of manufacturers of medical plastic articles. Pneumatic Cylinder made of aluminum has also achieved better performance characteristics by plating Nickel Teflon / NITRIBOL.

Due to the low coefficient of friction (0.1 to 0.2), the nickel Teflon / NITRIBOL found wide use in the plating of precision mechanical parts of all types in which use of an oil and grease lubrication has been inappropriate. Generally can be said that the coating is useful where it is desired to use PTFE coating, but the mechanical action is sufficient to ensure that the PTFE-coating alone is not sufficiently stable.