Electroless Nickel Plating: an increasingly popular solution.
Electroless plating is a process which uses an auto-catalytic chemical reaction to deposit a coating onto a wide range of substrates.
It differs from traditional electroplating, as an electric current is not passed through either the component nor plating solution, in order to form a plated deposit.
Electroless plating is increasingly preferred over conventional electrolytic plating because of the uniformity of its deposit. It provides a highly accurate layer with no deviation in plating depth over the entire surface of a component, regardless of the complexity of its design. Components plated in electroless nickel possess an excellent combination of wear resistance, corrosion and chemical resistance.
How does Electroless Plating work?
Electroless nickel plating actually uses a solution that is a nickel phosphorous alloy and the plating solution composition can be tailored to suit a particular application.
High phosphorous electroless nickel offers a pore free barrier coating that protects the underlying substrate form attack and offers outstanding chemical resistance and corrosion protection.
Medium phosphorous electroless nickel is used where corrosion resistance is required in combination with wear resistance. The deposit can be post heat treated to provide hardness of deposit to a maximum of 1100Hv.
Electroless nickel can be applied to wide range of substrates, aluminium and aluminium alloys, copper and copper alloys, ferrous and stainless metals, beryllium copper, zinc and titanium.
Key Properties of Electroless Plating
- Corrosion Resistance
- Wear Resistance
- Uniform Deposit
- Hardness
