There is not a minimum order requirement for stock SFLs. You can purchase just 1 aerosol of 28A, for instance, or just 1 quart of 9A. The only exception is a minimum quantity of 12 for 28A markers as of 4/1/2018.

For specialized or custom products, please call us Toll Free 1.800.747.1084 or contact us to obtain pricing to meet your volume needs.

Please utilize our ‘Request a Quote’ page on this website next to the Resources tab. You can also email our Customer Service Team  or call them Toll Free 1.800.747.1084. We also accept RFQs via fax at 309.523.3912.

Solid Film Lubricants are high performance “paint-like” coatings consisting of very fine particles of coating pigments blended with a binder and other special additives. When properly cured these coatings bond to the surface of a part and form a solid film which reduces friction and increases wear life. Many Sandstrom Solid Film Lubricants also contain corrosion inhibitors which offer exceptional corrosion protection in harsh environments.

Solid Film Lubricants reduce friction and wear by preventing surface-to-surface contact between mating parts.

Most Sandstrom Solid Film Lubricants yield a film thickness of .0002 to .0005 inches. Usually engineering tolerances will permit necessary minimum film buildup without interference. If excess buildup does occur, the part can be burnished lightly.

Solid Film Lubricants may be sprayed, dipped, or in some cases brushed to a properly prepared surface.

The dictionary definition of burnishing is to polish or buff something, especially metal, by rubbing. Typically someone would burnish metal to remove marks and recreate a shiny surface. With solid film lubricants, burnishing the coating results in the same effect, a shiny surface.

Solid film lubricants are performance – not cosmetic – coatings. The increase of the coating’s shine is not indicative of poor application or handling. Rather, burnishing is a characteristic of cured solid film lubricants. Burnishing or marring of the coating with simple handling is normal and, once the parts are in service, is expected.

A cured solid film lubricant has a relatively soft surface that contains lubricating pigments, such as molybdenum disulfide, that allow the dried film to carry a load or provide a long-lasting wear surface.

Any burnishing or marring of the surface prior to a part being put into service does not degrade the coating’s effectiveness. It is a simple disturbance of the lubricating pigments on the surface of the dry film coating. The resin system utilized in the coating bonds lubricating pigments to the surface of the substrate during the curing process. Therefore, the burnished surface does not affect the performance of the cured film as a whole.

Currently there are no MIL-PRF-46010 Color 2 products on the military’s QPL (Qualified Product List). Therefore, unfortunately this product is not available to meet your drawing specification anywhere on the market. If your drawing calls out MIL-PRF-46010 Color 2, a Color 1 product will have to be substituted.

Within the MIL-PRF-46010 specification there is a Color 1 – Natural Product color (typically a dark grey) and a Color 2 – Black color. Both Colors have the same performance requirements, with the only difference being the color standard requirements for the Color 2 (Black). One of Sandstrom’s competitors at one time had a product that met the QPL but was pulled due to causing corrosion. As a result, the latest revision to MIL-PRF-46010, dated 13 November 2013, included a listing in paragraph 6.5.1 of restricted materials that cannot be used to reach the black color because of the corrosion they promote. Sandstrom recommends contacting the end user of the component you are coating and applying for substitution of the Color 2 for Color 1, which is our #099 in Natural Product color (dark grey).

Yes. The Zahn Signature and EZ Zahn cups will result in different viscosity readings. If you are getting a result that is different from Sandstrom’s Technical Data Sheet, you may be using a different cup from what we used. Read more from the Zahn cup manufacturer about viscosity measurement using different Zahn cups here.

Joe Menke, retired chief corrosion control chemist at the US Army Armament Research, Development & Engineering Center (ARDEC), has written a research paper on ways to optimize the solid (aka, dry) film lubricant when applied to steel substrate. Download the entire report here.

The straining of coatings is a common practice within the paint and coatings industry. Sandstrom recommends the straining of coatings in order to eliminate common causes of contamination. Contaminants can include bits of dried paint from the edges of cans, particulates that may fall into cans when open, particulates on mixing utensils, or multiple other sources that may be considered FOD (Foreign Object Debris), which may be detrimental to the coating’s performance.  Sandstrom recommends using a strainer with a minimum size of 150 micron. This size is far greater than the particle size of the pigmentation and as such will not remove anything critical to the performance of the coating, yet should remove unwanted contaminants.

Due to our broad customer base with various application equipment and techniques and end uses, the thinning instructions listed on our technical data sheets should be used as a guideline for application, not as a specification. Further, the viscosity listed is the starting point for material as shipped from our location.

When developing a process for spraying our products, application equipment must be taken into consideration, including the spray gun and associated spray nozzle, tip sizes, and spraying pressures. The configuration of the parts being sprayed will be an additional variable for thinning and subsequent viscosity. It is the recommendation of Sandstrom Coating Technologies that each customer develops and verifies a thinning procedure and resultant viscosity. The obtained result shall produce acceptable end use properties of the coating such as film thickness, film appearance, and specified part performance properties for its particular application, as determined by customer tests.

No. Sandstrom’s #099 is not freeze-thaw stable. If the product is once frozen it cannot be thawed and returned to a usable condition.