Automotion Components' Guide to Materials and Finishes for Fasteners
We want to help you choose the right product for your application. At Automotion Components, we manufacture products on our fully automated machines, which means we can create bespoke components and provide many options of materials and finishes. Read more about our popular finishing options here.
What materials and finishes can you do?
We are often asked what range of materials and finishes we can produce for bespoke products. We want to make ordering from us as easy as possible, so we've put together some of our more popular materials and finshing options together on this page. If you have any other questions, or material choices or finishes in mind that you can't see here, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly technical team, who can assist you.
Our products are fully traceable and our materials are from conflict-free zones. We are quality certified - to read more on our established quality policy and other important statements, please see our company information pack on our FAQs page.
General guidance
We can easily manufacture specials for our customers. Generally, we have a huge range of standard dimensions in steel and stainless steel, but we also manufacture in other materials such as titanium, aluminium etc. Customers generally order bespoke products if they have a special dimension or material in mind for their application. With respect to materials and finishes, we can offer a range of different options, and this page is designed to show some of them!
We pride ourselves on going above and beyond for our customers, so if you don't see the material you are interested in here, or just want to talk things through with one of our technical engineers, please get in touch with us. Ordering a bespoke product is easy - simply send us your technical drawing, and we will review it, quote you for it, and - with your go-ahead - manufacture it!
Please note that specials are subject to minimum order quanitities for cost-effective runs. We are unable to accept cancellation of any orders after the earlier of either: 5 days from receipt of your order or once production has started. This is due to costs that are incurred in CAD/CAM preparation, sourcing of materials, and machine tooling and set-up costs. Notice of any order cancellation made within 5 days of receipt of the order must be in writing, and will only be deemed to have been accepted when we agree this in writing.
Material options
This is not a complete list of all of the materials we can offer you. Our most popular specials materials are stainless steel and titanium - for more in-depth information about these materials, please see our technical pages:
| Material | Notes |
| Steel | Very strong, although prone to corrosion in certain environments. Coatings are available (e.g. zinc plating). We offer various different grades of steel (e.g. 8.8, 10.9), specified in the product material notes. |
| Stainless steel | We offer products in many different grades of stainless steel. These are more expensive than steel, but offer a greater degree of protection from corrosion. |
| Titanium | We offer products in ASTM B348 grade 2 and grade 5 titanium exceptionally corrosion resistant. Titanium has a very high strength:weight ratio and is used in aerospace, power generation, and medical industries (among others). |
| Aluminium | Aluminium is a lightweight metal with good oxidation resistance properties. |
| Brass | Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. It is resistant to oxidation and corrosion but is not compatible with amines or ammonia. It usually has a golden/yellow metallic lustre. |
| Monel | A single phase nickel-copper alloy with excellent properties at both very high and very low temperatures. It is therefore used in certain areas of aircrafts. It has a high density and is very difficult to machine, so it is approximately 3x more expensive than carbon steel, and also more expensive than stainless steel. |
| Nylon | Although nylon is a plastic, it is very durable and light, and it has higher tensile strength than some metals, such as aluminium. Nylon is an electrical insulator and is suited to use in electronic applications, as it's flame retardant. However, it is hygroscopic and can degrade under atmospheric conditions, so it shouldn't be exposed to the outdoor elements (rain, UV light, etc). |
Finishing options
Our coatings conform to military and aviation standards. Please note that not all of our finishes are compatible with every material - e.g. black oxide coating is only for ferrous materials such as steel and stainless steel.
| Finish | Notes |
| Black Chrome (MIL-C-1458B) | Black chrome is a hard, non-reflective coating which is resistant to abrasion, heat and erosion. The black chrome surface is a dull, dark grey and may be waxed or oiled to darken the surface further. |
| Black Oxide Coating (MIL-C-13924B) | Black oxide is a uniform black coating for ferrous metals. It is usually less than or equal to a micrometre thick, so close tolerances are retained. Generally it is considered a decorative coating and provides only very limited additional corrosion protection. |
| Zinc (QQ-Z-325C/ASTM B633) | Zinc plating is used as galvanic sacrificial protection against corrosion for steel and stainless steel products. Typically, a chromate finish is also placed on top of the zinc plating to reduce the formation of white zinc oxide on the surface. |
| Geomet(R) 500 (ISO 10683/am 13858/ASTM F1136) | Geomet(R) is a zinc and aluminium plating which provides excellent lubriaction properties for fasteners. It has a thickness of 5-10 micrometres and exhibits good resistance to chemical and mechanical damage. |
| Passivation (QQ-P-35/MIL S-5OOSC) | Passivation is a process designed to remove foreign metals or impurities which may have been introduced during manufacturing/processing from the surface of stainless and corrosion resistant steels. This helps keep the protective anti-corrosion surface film intact and slows corrosion. |
| Nickel | Nickel is a corrosion protective plating for steel, zinc and zinc alloys as well as copper and copper alloys. |
| Phosphate Coating Light (TT-C-0D490B) | Phosphate coating is a light coating for use as a base paint. |
| Gold (MIL-G-45204B) | Yellow to orange colour depending on a proprietary process used. Will range from matt to bright finish depending on base metal. Good corrosion resistance and high tarnish resistance. |
| Cadmium | Cadmium is a bright, silvery white plating. Supplementary treatments for type II can be golden, iridescent, amber, black or olive drab. |
| Chromium/chromate | A chromate finish gives a shiny metallic finish whilst also providing corrosion resistance properties. As with all of our finishes, the chromate finishes we use are RoHS compliant. |
Other finishing options
Silver plating - a lubricant to reduce galling. Also antimicrobial and very hygienic. Good conductivity for heat dissipation in vacuum environments. Cheaper than gold coating.
Gold plating - to lubricate and lower chemical reactivity of the fastener (e.g. if strong cleaning agents are to be used).
Nickel plating - for added corrosion and wear resistance, improving service lifetime.
Molybdenum coating (MoS2) - a dry film lubricant to reduce galling/seizing between components.
Tungsten coating (WS2) - low friction dry lubricant that improves performance and service lifetime by reducing galling issues.
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