One of the Zinc Nickel Rack plating lines is mainly dedicated to the plating of Tubes.

The ASTEC 1000 brand is produced in this line, in which there are four plating baths, each of 6,000 litres capacity. Plating is by both volume and envelope. This line can handle components weighing up to 350Kg and has a daily plating capacity of 35,000 tubes, running 250 flight bars per day. Like every other plating line at AST, this is a continuous, fully automated, computer controlled process line.

The benefits of the Zinc Nickel process include the high ductility, corrosion immunity, hardness and heat resistance of the plating. The process is compatible with Chrome 6 FREE passivates and is an alternative to Cadmium plating.