NADCAP Accreditation for Aerospace Plating: What It Takes • Platinex Industries

For an electroplating shop, an ISO 9001 certificate is a general baseline. But for a shop processing engine components for Boeing, Airbus, or the Indian Air Force, the only standard that matters is NADCAP (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program).

NADCAP is not a general business audit; it is a deep-dive technical audit performed by experts who have spent decades in the plating industry.

1. Process Mastery, Not Just Documentation

In a standard audit, the auditor looks at your paperwork. In a NADCAP audit, the auditor stands over the tank.

They watch the operator clean the parts.
They verify the exact distance between the part and the anode.
They check the calibration of the timer on the wall.
They verify that the chemical analysis logs match the actual additions made to the tank.

2. Extreme Control of “Special Processes”

Aerospace considers electroplating a “Special Process”—meaning the results cannot be fully verified without destroying the part. NADCAP ensures that every variable is locked down:

Pyrometry: Every bake oven must have a “Uniformity Survey” to prove there are no cold spots that could leave a part embrittled.
Solution Control: The allowable limits for impurities (like iron in a nickel bath) are significantly tighter than in commercial plating.

3. The Burden of Proof

NADCAP requires “cradle-to-grave” traceability for every single aerospace part. This includes the batch number of the raw chemicals used, the daily calibration records of the XRF machine, and the specific rack used for the job.

NADCAP is the hallmark of the elite 1% of the surface finishing world. While Platinex Industries serves the broader industrial and electrical sectors with ISO 9001 rigor, we respect and adhere to the fundamental principles of aerospace-grade process control. Contact us for high-reliability finishing.