Electroplating
Electroplating
Electroplating uses an electrical current to finish a contact or component with a thin layer of metal. The application of electroplating deposits has a desired property like abrasion, wear resistance, corrosion protection, lubricity or aesthetics onto a substrate lacking the desired property.
The electroplating process is also known as electrodeposition. It is a galvanic or electrochemical cell acting in reverse. The part being plated becomes the cathode of the circuit. With a soluble anode, the anode is made of the metal to be plated on the part which dissolves in a chemical solution, like gold or palladium. In a soluble anode, the metal is actually contained in solution.
Both the anode and the part or cathode are submerged in a solution containing one or more metal salts in addition to other ions that enable the flow of electricity throughout the solution. A rectifier supplies direct current to the cathode causing the metal ions in solution to lose their charge and plate onto the part or cathode within the solution. As the electrical current flows through the solution, the anode dissolves in a controlled manner and replenishes the ions in the bath.
Other electroplating processes may use a non-consumable anode like tin or nickel. When using these techniques, ions of the metal to be plated are periodically replenished in the bath as they are plated out of the solution.
Electroplating Expertise With Precision Plating
Precision Plating's can take performance and cost reduction to the next level thanks to their experience and expertise in the electroplating processes. With services, such as educational electroplating seminars, engineering consultations, quick-turn prototyping support, and troubleshooting and design of experiments, allow your company to keep a competitive edge in design and development of new products.
Precision Plating's product development support and technical service can help you reduce cost and meet all quality requirements before, during, and after the production cycle. Our engineers get involved early in the design and plating specification process so that you can reduce costs earlier, identify potential problems before they are designed in and build a more competitive product. Precision Plating's engineering experts can plate loose or continuous reel to reel prototypes, either selectively or overall in low or high volume to meet pre-production requirements.
