Have you seen the commercial of the person running along a road and when the camera pans down we see that the runner has only one leg? Most of us think, "Wow! What a strong courageous person".  And, in fact that is true. But, even with all the will power in the world, in order for that person to be able to run, they need a well-built, light-weight, yet very strong artificial leg.

Recently, Techmetals had the opportunity to work with such a project. We were asked to apply our Techmetals 129 coating to alu­minum components on what would end up being a part of the human body, in the form of a leg. The coating not only made the aluminum harder, allowing it to wear better, but it held close tolerances for the "joint" areas and made it easier for all of the parts to move.

Not all of the components received the nickel plating. We found that some, especially for younger children, are anodized in a variety of colors. We don't always get the opportunity to know where the parts we plate end up but, knowing that these may be helping someone walk or run is quite a rewarding feeling.