Lubrication Free Small Arms Weapons Coatings

A suitable small arms weapon will be disassembled, and parts evaluated for the potential to remove and replace metal coatings with a single coating. In order for this single coating to be successful it must exhibit improved properties that decrease the overall cost of the weapon and allow the weapon to operate without wet lubrication. Universal Chemical Technologies' Inc. coating UltraCem(r), which is an electroless Ni-B coating will be evaluated for this purpose. The most severe cases of abrasive wear, sliding wear, and impact for subassemblies in the weapon will be stripped and re-coated. An accelerated battery of tests between OEM coated parts and UltraCem(r) parts will provide the data necessary to recommend UltraCem as the single coating that solves the problem stated and allows dry operation of the weapon.