Replacement Coatings for Aircraft Electronic Connectors : Findings and Potential Alternatives Report

The goal of the project this report describes is to identify potential alternative coatings for connectors. This report addresses issues associated with cadmium-plated connectors bonded to aluminum airframes, including: 1. Unacceptable (off-spec) electrical bonds. 2. Flight or system safety impacts. 3. Environmental, health and safety concerns. The report represents the results of telephone surveys with Original Equipment Manufacturers and major suppliers to determine how they have addressed these issues. Finally, this report presents a wide range of candidate replacement materials. There are no alternatives identified in this report that greatly exceed cadmium as replacements on electrical connectors. Over half of the coating replacements contain nickel or require a nickel underplate. If nickel alloys are considered, the alloys traditionally used for contacts (palladium- nickel) may be worthy of further investigation. A proprietary formulation of nickel-Teflon should be examined. IVD aluminum and electrodeposited aluminum appear to be good candidate replacements. Hybrid connectors are an interesting alternative, combining the benefits of aluminum-plated connectors with composite connectors.Air Force Research Lab Tyndall Afb Fl Materials and Manufacturing Directorate is the author of 'Replacement Coatings for Aircraft Electronic Connectors : Findings and Potential Alternatives Report', published 1998 under ISBN 9781423553236 and ISBN 1423553233.