Electroless Nickel on Aluminum is Material Science’s Landing Gear Plating
Specification 1108 — the customer-controlled standard for electroless nickel
plating on landing-gear and adjacent structural-aerospace components built under
aerospace programs. It defines the chemistry envelope, deposit characteristics,
allowable substrates, post-treatment requirements, and inspection criteria
that an electroless nickel deposit must satisfy before a part is accepted into
a aerospace assembly.
The specification exists because landing-gear and load-path structural components
live at the demanding end of the aerospace duty envelope: cyclic loading, fatigue,
corrosive service environments, and tight dimensional tolerance after build-up.
A generic "per Electroless Nickel on Aluminum" deposit doesn’t satisfy Electroless Nickel on Aluminum by itself
— the callout layers ASTM-specific bath-control, hardness, post-bake,
and adhesion criteria on top of the public-spec foundation.
What Electroless Nickel on Aluminum actually controls, in plain English: which platers can run it
(only public spec approved processors), how the bath is run
(phosphorus content, temperature, pH, replenishment cycle), what the deposit
must measure (thickness range, hardness as-plated and post-heat-treat,
adhesion), what substrates are allowed, and how the part
is post-treated (hydrogen-embrittlement relief bake on high-strength steels;
optional heat treatment to elevate hardness). Get one of those wrong, and the part
isn’t Electroless Nickel on Aluminum — even if the deposit looks right.
For procurement engineers, the practical consequence is simple: Electroless Nickel on Aluminum work
must be sourced from a ASTM-approved processor with current NADCAP Chemical
Processing accreditation, full traceable lot records, and a quality system that
stands up to a customer source-survey audit. Entech is on that list.
Issuing Body
Material Science
Material Science aerospace systems business unit. Specification owner; processor-approval gatekeeper via the public NADCAP-accredited shop list.
Plating Type
Electroless Ni-P
Autocatalytic nickel-phosphorus deposit. No external current. Uniform coverage on internal features and complex geometries.
Typical Thickness
0.0005–0.003″
Per drawing callout. Common range 12–75 µm. Heavier build-up acceptable on engineering review.
Common Substrates
Steel · SST · Al · 300M
Carbon and alloy steels, stainless, aluminum, copper alloys, Invar 36, Inconel, plus high-strength steels including 300M.