WORLDWIDE Material Specification
ENGINEERING
Finish
STANDARDS
Zinc Alloy Plating
1 Scope
This specification covers the basic requirements
for barrel or rack electrodeposited zinc alloy plating
over a ferrous substrate. Various alloy platings with
supplementary treatments are covered by this
specification.
Zn- Ni plating is available in two types: Type A and
Type B. Zn- Ni Type B plating has higher corrosion
resistance performance than Zn- Ni Type A. Zn- Ni
Type B must have supplementary sealers on top of
the conversion coating. The engineering drawing
with GMW4700 Zn- Ni without any type will default
to Type A. In case of Type A electrodeposits may
be applied with or without supplementary sealers
meeting the performance requirements. Table 1
lists the zinc alloy finishes covered by this
specification.
This specification covers functional requirements
only. Cosmetic requirements such as brightness,
shades, tint, etc. are not defined. Material
approved to this specification may not meet special
cosmetic/ appearance requirements, and will have
to be agreed upon by the purchaser and applicator.
1.1 Material Description. To distinguish between
alloys, the chemical symbol of the alloying element
must be added as a suffix to the specification
number to designate the alloy desired. This coating
has no hexavalent chromate per the requirements
of GMW3059.
1.2 Plating Composition. The percentage of
alloying element(s) present in the electrodeposits
differs for each of the zinc alloys. The
concentration limits for the various alloys are
shown in Table 1. Caution: The availability of Zn-
Co and Zn-Fe-Co are limited. Consult your local
Material Engineering (Paint & Corrosion
engineering for General Motors Europe (GME))
support to determine availability before
specification on part prints.
1.2.1 Accurate control of alloy composition and
alloy ratios within the limits given in Table 1 are
essential for optimum corrosion resistance and
plating performance.
© Copyright 2007 General Motors Corporation All Rights Reserved
August 2007 Originating Department: North American Engineering Standards
GMW4700
1.3 Typical Application. Zinc alloy plating is
especially suitable for small to medium ferrous
parts such as castings, stampings, clips, fasteners
and other ferrous parts where levels of corrosion
protection exceeding pure zinc are required. A
suffix code G is to be used when specified on
fasteners. Use of this finish on fasteners could
affect the torque-tension relationship. It is
recommended that a torque-tension study of the
fastener joint be performed before use of this finish
on fasteners.
1.3.1 Zinc Alloy plated parts or their corrosion
products must not come in contact with stressed
Polyamides 6 or 66.
1.3.2 Coefficient of friction/torque tension values in
this specification are determined at ambient
temperatures. New applications for this finish
should be tested to confirm performance under
application specific operating conditions.
1.3.3 Finishes conforming to the requirements of
this specification can be used in the application
range of -50ºC to 120ºC. For applications outside
of this temperature range consult your local
Material Engineering (Paint & Corrosion
engineering for GME) support.
2 References
Note: Only the latest approved standards are
applicable unless otherwise specified.
2.1 External Standards/Specifications.
ASTM F1470 SAE/USCAR-5
ISO 16047 SAE/USCAR-7
SAE/USCAR-1 SAE/USCAR-11
2.2 GM Standards/Specifications.
GMW3001 GMW14729
GMW3059 GMW14872
GMW3286
2.3 Additional References.
VDA 621-415 Cyclic Corrosion Test
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GMW4700 GM WORLDWIDE ENGINEERING STANDARDS

Table 1: Alloy Compositions, Concentration is subject to approval by the pertinent engineer and
Ranges and Corrosion Performance all undersize/oversize shall be within permissible
limits as agreed upon.
Alloy Wt. % Minimum Minimum
Element Alloy hours to hours to 3.3.2 The applicator shall regularly monitor the
Element White Red Rust coating thickness for process control. The coating
Corrosion thickness shall be measured on preferably flat
surfaces, minimum 10 samples per lot.
Cobalt (Zn- 0.5 to 400 Supplementary treatment is not applicable to
Co)Note 1 1.5 thickness measurements.
Iron (Zn-Fe) 0.4 to 480 3.3.3 Throughout the entire electrodeposited layer,
0.8 the chemical composition shall remain within the
specification limit as defined in Table 1.
Nickel (Zn-Ni) 5.00 to 480
Caution: Zinc nickel alloys tend to chip easily
Type A 15.00
when the deposit thickness exceeds 15 μm. This
Nickel (Zn-Ni) 10.00 to 240 1000 can become a factor on parts with high large
Type B 17.00 protrusions where high current density will increase
both nickel content and deposit thickness.
Cobalt-Iron Co 0.3 480
(Zn-Co- to 0.7, 3.4 Corrosion Resistance. Parts plated to this
Fe)Note 1 Fe 0.4 specification when neutral salt spray (NSS) tested
to 0.8 (GMW3286) shall show no base metal corrosion
(red rust) after exposure for minimum hours
Note 1: Limited availability, consult Materials Engineering (Paint specified in Table 1 on significant surfaces.
& Corrosion Engineering for GME) before specifying on prints.
The corrosion testing of the threaded fasteners
3 Requirements must follow the procedures as outlined in
SAE/USCAR-1.
3.1 Adhesion. The coating shall have good
adhesion to base material. There shall be no Note: The salt spray test is only used to test the
blistering or flaking after exposing coated parts to integrity of the alloy deposit and the effectiveness
220 ± 5ºC for 30 ± 5 minutes and quench in water of the supplemental treatment. The hours to white
at room temperature. or red corrosion products shall not be construed as
having any correlation to the actual service life of
Electrolytically coated components produced from the part.
aqueous solutions must satisfy the mechanical
property requirements of the uncoated parts. 3.4.1 For normal production, processes that are in
statistical process control shall yield parts that are
3.2 Appearance. A clean commercial finish that is capable of meeting the same salt spray
uniform, tightly adherent, hard and dry is required. requirements.
Range of color, iridescence, opaqueness, and
sheen are normally not critical. If a color, such as 3.4.2 NSS testing shall be performed on a regular
black is required, it shall be specified on the part basis to maintain statistical process control. The
drawing. minimum frequency of corrosion tests for white and
red corrosion with NSS test hours up to and
3.3 Thickness. When applied to threaded including 480 hours shall be at least once per
products, the coating shall not have an adverse week. The minimum frequency of corrosion tests
effect on normal installation and removal practices. for red corrosion with NSS test hours greater than
At the same time coating thickness shall be 480 hours shall be at least once per month. The
adequate to meet corrosion resistance sample size shall be 3 pieces minimum per lot for
performance requirements. each test requirement. (example: for Type B Zn-
3.3.1 The maximum thickness of coating which Ni, 6 pieces total are required for testing to 480
may be applied to threads on threaded products is and 1000 h) Use actual part for NSS testing unless
limited by the basic thread size (tolerance h or H). the use of other parts (surrogate or other parts) is
After coating, parts must gage with appropriate agreed by GM Engineering. The supplier shall
basic size GO thread gages. Threads may be maintain the test results in a file to be submitted
produced undersize/oversize (before coating) to when required by GM, unless otherwise agreed
accommodate the coating thickness, provided the between the purchaser and supplier.
finished product (after coating) meets all specified 3.4.3 In the case where the supplier does not
mechanical properties. Where mechanical process parts to this specification on a regular
properties are not specified, undersizing/oversizing
© Copyright 2007 General Motors Corporation All Rights Reserved

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GM WORLDWIDE ENGINEERING STANDARDS
basis, the minimum test frequency shall be once
per production lot.
3.4.4 Actual processing control checks to be made
and recorded shall be based on chemical
manufacturer’s instructions. The applicator shall
have a documented and logged process control
program and be available for review when required
by GM.
3.4.5 Significant surfaces for test evaluation of
fasteners shall be all exposed surfaces of the
fastener when installed, including but not limited to
fastener heads, socket recess, sems washers and
external surface of nuts. Fastener threads and
point are excluded unless otherwise specified on
the drawing.
3.4.6 Significant surfaces on parts other than
threaded fasteners shall be all surfaces. Deep
recesses, such as blind holes and the interior of
tubes are excluded unless otherwise specified on
the drawing.
3.4.7 Temperature Resistance. After heating the
parts for 1 h at 150ºC (part temperature) the
corrosion resistance requirements as specified in
3.4 shall still be met. This test requirement is only
for initial approval of new plating chemical system.
3.5 Accelerated Corrosion. Samples for test
purposes shall be either panels or small brackets
with enough surface area for good visual
examination, except for approvals to Code G. For
Code G M10 fasteners shall be used.
The coatings to this specification shall be exposed
per GMW 14872,
Zn- Co, Zn-Fe, Zn-Ni Type A and Zn-Co-Fe.
- EXT All, 4s, Method SH/SM/SL, Exposure D,
after completion of test the plated parts shall
exhibit 10% max. red rust coverage and 50% max.
white corrosion coverage.
Zn- Ni Type B.
- UB All, 4s, Method SH/SM, Exposure D, after
completion of test cycles the plated parts shall
exhibit no red rust coverage and 50% max. white
corrosion coverage.
3.5.1 VDA 621-415. Cyclic Corrosion Test could be
used as an alternate test method to GMW14872
test by GME. The coating to this specification shall
be exposed to VDA 621-415 Cyclic Corrosion test.
Zn- Co, Zn-Fe, Zn-Ni Type A and Zn-Co-Fe:
10 Cycles
Zn- Ni Type B:
16 Cycles
© Copyright 2007 General Motors Corporation All Rights Reserved
August 2007
GMW4700
After test cycles, the screw heads shall exhibit no
red rust.
Note: GMW14872 or VDA 621-415 cyclic
corrosion test is required for the initial approval of a
new plating chemical system and the Production
Part Approval Process (PPAP) submission.
Applicators are required to perform this test
(GMW14872) on processed parts minimum of one
time per year. Parts performance records shall be
retained for minimum 3 years for potential review.
This test shall be run at the frequency deemed
appropriate by the applicator, such that a
confidence in passing the requirements is
developed.
3.6 Hydrogen Embrittlement. All parts heat
treated or highly cold worked to the specified core
hardness of HRC 32 or greater or surface
hardness HRC 35 or greater, which are processed
through hydrogen generating process, shall be
processed by the applicator per SAE/USCAR-5
and tested for de-embrittlement per SAE/USCAR-
7. The test frequency and sample size for
SAE/USCAR-7 test shall be per ASTM F1470.
When a part requires baking after plating, the
supplementary treatment shall be applied after the
baking operation.
3.7 Label Compatibility. Parts that require both
affixed label and a post treatment must be humidity
tested per GMW14729 for 96 hours. The label shall
exhibit no blistering, wrinkling, color change and no
loss of adhesion after humidity test. The label Part
Number 12565635 or label of similar construction
is required for the label compatibility test.
Note: When running this test for the initial approval
of the finish material, use labels with an acrylic
adhesive measuring approximately 25X75 mm.
When running this test for PPAP, use the
production intent label.
3.8 Torque-Tension. Metric threaded fasteners
M6 and larger requiring torque-tension shall be
specified on the part drawing with a suffix Code G.
These fasteners shall be subject to torque-tension
testing monitoring through the use of surrogate
M10 x 1.5 test bolts. A minimum of 10 bolts each
line shall be monitored per SAE/USCAR-11,
except tightening speed shall be 30 ± 3 RPM. The
six sigma torque range value must be within the
listed range (See Table 2). The test shall be
frequently run to maintain statistical quality control.
The test results shall be regularly plotted and
maintained in file to be submitted when required by
GM.
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GMW4700 GM WORLDWIDE ENGINEERING STANDARDS

Table 2: Torque-Tension Test Parts and Requirements

Thread Size Surrogate Bolt Test Nut Test Washer Torque (Nm) Tension
Part Number Part Number (kN)
Part Number SAE/USCAR-11
M10 x 1.5 11516105 11516090 11502644 48 ± 8 28.3

3.9 Coefficient of Friction. The coefficient of 7 Notes

friction of threaded fasteners shall be (0.13 ± 0.03) 7.1 Glossary. Not applicable.
(six sigma values) when tested per ISO 16047 with 7.2 Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Symbols.
the following exceptions: Tightening speed shall be
COF Coefficient of Friction
30 ± 3 RPM.
GME General Motors Europe
Note: Torque-Tension Test and Coefficient of
Friction Tests are required for the initial approval of NSS Neutral Salt Spray
the finish material. Supplier/Applicators can run PPAP Production Part Approval Process
either Torque-Tension or Coefficient of Friction
Test for quality control. 8 Coding System
This standard shall be referenced in other
4 Manufacturing Process documents, drawings, etc. as follows:
Cleanability. Parts must be free from die lubricants GMW4700 Zn-Ni, Type A Code G
and drawing compounds that will adversely affect
GMW = GM Worldwide
the plating.
4700 = Specification Number
Parts which show uncleanable surfaces, not
affected by normal cleaners, should be noted to Zn-Ni = Alloy Type
the manufacturer, and special techniques, as Type A = Corrosion Resistance Level
recommended by the oil supplier, should be Code G = Torque-Tension Control, Threaded
applied and so noted. Fastener Application only

5 Rules and Regulations 9 Release and Revisions

5.1 All materials supplied to this specification must 9.1 Release. This standard originated in April
comply with the requirements of GMW3001, Rules 2002, replacing GMW14716 and GME 00252. It
and Regulations for Material Specifications. was first approved by GMNA in May 2002. It was
5.2 All materials supplied to this specification must first published in October 2004.
comply with the requirements of GMW3059, 9.2 Revisions.
Restricted and Reportable Substances for
Parts. Rev Approval
Description (Organization)
Date
6 Approved Sources B SEP 2004 Added Code G, fastener
Engineering qualifications of an approved source requirements, revised
(Chemistry, process and applicator) is required for paragraph 3.1.4.2 (GMNA).
this standard. Only sources listed in the GM
C MAR 2006 Added caution about ZnCo
Materials File (i.e., Supply Power) under this
availability and passivation
specification number have been qualified by
requirement, revised TT
engineering as meeting the requirements of this
frequency requirement, added
specification. Approvals in Supply Power are
COF/temp requirement to
specific to the approved Zn alloy (i.e. Zn-Ni Type
Scope, Added two types
A, Zn-Ni Type B, Zn-Fe, or Zn-Fe-Co), color (i.e.
(Type A and Type B) of Zn-Ni
clear or black) and suffix code (i.e. no code or
alloy plating and made other
Code G.)
corresponding changes
For other GM locations the responsible (complete revision). (GMW
engineering group should be contacted to obtain Finish Team)
the approved source in the individual country.

© Copyright 2007 General Motors Corporation All Rights Reserved

Page 4 of 4 August 2007