You’re probably familiar with our advanced engineered coatings. What you may not know, however, is that we also provide high quality generic coatings. For example, let’s consider two coatings with some overlapping uses: our Nedox basic electroless nickel and much more advanced Nedox.

Nedox Basic electroless nickel will do the trick in many applications, but sometimes you will need all the enhanced surface properties that Nedox brings to the table. In this post, we’ll look at key performance differences between these two coatings and the best applications for each.

What’s the difference? Our Nedox Basic electroless nickel coating is a thin-film coating made from nickel and phosphorous. Nedox, on the other hand, is a nickel-based coating with the addition of a synergistic polymer and/or dry lubricants. Although they’re both based on nickel, these two coatings have very different performance characteristics.

A more robust coating than Nedox Basic electroless nickel, Nedox synergistic coatings have a surface hardness of up to Rc 68, compared to Nedox Basic’s electroless nickel’s maximum hardness of Rc 63. During salt fog testing, our Nedox CR lasts for 1200 hours, while Nedox Basic electroless nickel lasts for 1000 hours.

Nedox also performs better than Nedox Basic electroless nickel in chemically corrosive environments such as washdown and uranium-enrichment applications with UF6 exposure.

Even though these two coatings have many differences, they also have some similarities in their physical properties. Nedox and Nedox Basic electroless nickel both have a thermal conductivity of 0.0105 to 0.0135 Cal-cm/sec/°C and applied thicknesses between 0.0002 and 0.002 inches. These coatings both exhibit a coefficient of thermal expansion of 7.22 x 106 in/in/1°F (13 x 106 in/in/1°C).

Which is best? So which coating is better? For most applications, the answer is Nedox. Since it meets all FDA and USDA requirements, Nedox is a good choice for food and beverage and pharmaceutical applications. Nedox is also your best bet if you’re looking for a harder coating. However, if you’re looking for a coating that withstands high temperatures and costs less, Nedox Basic electroless nickel is the way to go.

Common Nedox Basic electroless nickel non-FDA applications include chemical processing, aerospace, transportation, instrumentation and manufacturing. More demanding applications such as nuclear equipment, food processing and molds are better suited for Nedox.

Learn more about our Nedox coatings and Nedox Basic electroless nickel