About SIFCO

SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts is a multi-national company which serves many industries with selective plating applications. The SIFCO Process of selective plating is a portable, industrial plating process that is designed for use in OEM applications as well as for salvage and repair. The process works with a wide range of shapes and sizes of parts made from a variety of base materials. Selective Plating is used to apply adherent, high-quality deposits onto localized areas and to achieve a precise deposit thickness. Selective plating applies these deposits with minimal risk to both the operator and the environment.

SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts, a division of SIFCO Industries, Inc., is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts manufactures and sells portable equipment for use in OEM/Production plating applications as well as for repair, to resize, rebuild, and resurface industrial components. For larger or more complex jobs, SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts offers job shop plating services that can be done at one of our job shops located around the world, or at our customer's facilities, either by the job or by an On-site Outsourcing arrangement.

Our Services

The SIFCO Process is a portable method of selectively (brush) plating localized areas without using an immersion tank. Two separate solution lines currently exist within the SIFCO Process. To ensure conformance to various specifications, each solution product line is manufactured to stringent quality requirements.

SIFCO continues to develop new materials to meet more demanding application requirements. Our R&D group has recently developed a new process to selectively, brush plate adherent deposits onto Titanium to improve the surface properties of localized areas on components for either OEM or repair applications. The technology optimizes the adhesion of the deposit to titanium alloys by effective removal of titanium's passive oxide and micro-roughening to increase surface area, without the use of hydrofluoric acid in the process, or heat treatment after plating.

Another recent development is a process to selectively, brush plate a cobalt metal matrix in which chromium carbide particles are incorporated. SIFCO's Co-Cr3C2 is an adherent, ductile, dense, non-porous deposit that provides high temperature oxidation protection with superior wear resistance that can be improved by heat treating. These micrographs show Cr3C2 particles uniformly deposited in a 6 mil thick machinable cobalt deposit. SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts remains committed to being the leader in brush plating technology through continued research and innovation, insuring that the SIFCO Process remains the most advanced process in the selective electroplating industry.

Printing Equipment

The primary applications include filling damaged or worn areas on stainless steel or iron, web-offset or flexographic press cylinders, and filling in porous chromium plate or damaged areas on steel blanket cylinders.

A 2.4m (8') diameter x 2.4m (8') long stainless steel web offset impression cylinder had been accidentally damaged by a small wrench. A 76mm (3") long area was pressed in almost 2mm (0.080"). This defect was dished out and filled with several layers of copper. The copper and adjacent stainless steel surfaces were then plated with nickel and were ground to required surface finish and size.


Intaglio impression rolls operate at extremely high printing pressures. They are plated with approximately 1.5mm (0.060") of chromium to get the best possible surface. Isolated pits in the chrome, barely visible to the naked eye, were a cause for rejection. These pits varied from 12mm to 38 mm (0.005" to 0.015") in diameter. A copper deposit was applied, followed by an overlay of cobalt which gave a good color match with chromium. Light polishing with crocus cloth completed the repair.

Plate and blanket cylinders with accidental damage, imperfections in the base material, or in-service wear are good candidates for using the SIFCO Process.

Electric Motors and Generators

The repair of electrical generating equipment presents many areas in which the SIFCO Process of Selective Plating can be used with great success. The primary application areas are the bearing housing (end bell) and the rotor journal.

End bells, which house the bearings that support both ends of the motor shaft, experience fretting corrosion during operation. The SIFCO Process is used to plate these bores to size with copper, tin, or nickel. Machining the bores, prior to plating, is usually only necessary to reestablish concentricity.

Plating a worn bearing housing can take less time and be more efficient than alternative methods such as sleeving or thermal spray processes.

DC motors and generator slip rings can develop copper oxide films which reduce electrical conductivity and cause arcing and pitting especially during locked motor start-up. Excessive damage occurs in highly corrosive environments, such as in the bleaching areas of pulp and paper plants. Plating 2.5m (0.0001 in.) of rhodium and then 1.3m (0.00005 in.) of gold onto the refinished commutator extends brush life and maintenance intervals.