Tech-Kote®

Tech-Kote® is a proprietary surface treatment created by TS Tech Nickel to treat parts that will be subjected to welding spatter. Parts that are treated with the Tech-Kote® process do not allow weld spatter to stick to their surfaces without the need for additional sprays or liquids. Because it is a surface treatment as opposed to an adhered coating, it will not peel or flake over time.

Tech-Kote® can be applied to any ferrous metal material, such as carbon steels, alloy steels, stainless steels, cast iron, tool steels, and more.

Tech-Kote® can’t be applied to non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, brass, or bronze.

Any ferrous material parts can be treated with the Tech-Kote® process. Welding tools, clamps, fixtures, and tables are prime candidates for this treatment. Automation integrators have also found that by treating their parts with Tech-Kote®, they can provide their customers with a premium weld cell with components that come already resistant to the weld spatter that would otherwise be a constant weld spatter housekeeping issue. In fact, several of these types of companies have standardized on the Tech-Kote® process as a way to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Unfortunately, the process only works with ferrous metals, so Tech-Kote® can’t be applied to non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, or bronze.

TS Tech Nickel has been performing the Tech-Kote® treatment process for over a decade. We’ve treated over 100,000 parts with the process without a single complaint, and we’ve never had a part, component, or assembly return to us for re-application. Because of the additional benefits of wear resistance and high hardness, it is a tough, durable treatment that goes beyond just the weld spatter resistance.

Tech-Kote® is meant to be a finishing process. You will want to specify all of your machining, welding, heat treatment, and other fabrication steps first. If you have a particular surface finish to achieve, you’ll want to do that before the Tech-Kote® treatment.

While some finish grinding may occur if you have any last-minute dimensional cleanup after treatment, you will want to keep it to a minimum, as you can inadvertently grind off the treatment layer after processing. Ideal conditions would be to assemble the part as needed once we return it to you.

Tech-Kote® is intended to be a finish process, and therefore you should see little to no dimensional change with the process. The process is performed at a temperature below the phase where steel tends to deform. Because of this, the Tech-Kote® process does not cause dimensional movement. Be sure to machine your parts to final dimensions before the application of the Tech-Kote® process.

Having said that, the protective layer that builds into and on the surface of the parts can cause a minimal amount of growth. Typically the layer will be somewhere between 10-20 microns of depth, and a general rule of thumb is that half of that depth will be above the original surface, so you can expect somewhere between 5-10 microns of growth on all surfaces. Very fine thread pitches can sometimes become brittle, but for the vast majority of applications, this is not a problem. If you are concerned about brittle thread pitches, you can mask threaded holes using the corresponding bolt, but a high-temperature (rated to 1200°F minimum) anti-seize compound must be applied to the threads prior to Tech-Kote®, or removal becomes difficult to impossible.