Electroforming of Aluminum

A. Dear Mr. Zoheir:

You will not be able to electroform (or even electroplate) aluminum from a typical aqueous plating tank because it is too active a metal (water separates into hydrogen and oxygen before aluminum ions reduce to metallic form). Copper can be electroformed as thick as you want, probably. Look up some formulations for a bright acid copper plating bath, and that should suffice for electroforming. Good luck!

A. In the previous response I told the inquirer that he would not be able to electroform aluminum. I don't want to repeat that, and thereby imply that I am insisting upon the impossibility of it. I don't like to say that anything is forever impossible.

But the gist of the problem is that aluminum (unlike most other metals) is more electronegative than the hydrogen in water itself. So when you put electricity into an aqueous solution in an attempt to electroplate it, the hydrogen in the water is reduced and "deposits" far more readily than any dissolved aluminum does.

It is possible to plate aluminum out of molten salts or solutions of organic solvents in a sealed oxygen-free environment. It is covered by patent and although not widely done, it certainly can be done. Electroforming is a another layer of complexity. So again, I don't say it's impossible, but a self-confessed "rank amateur" is not going to be able to do it short of devoting a couple of decades of his life to it :-)

A. Electroforming of aluminum is certainly possible and was investigated by General Electric under a contract to NASA in 1965. Please see ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650012755.pdf

Thanks for the interesting link, Kevin. Yes, Siemens has/had a patent on plating aluminum from organic baths and Alumiplate does electrodeposition of aluminum. But electroplating it from an aqueous bath is not possible currently as I told Boussouar and Paul.

And I still feel that a "a beginner in electroplating" like Boussouar should try copper for electroforming rather than aluminum; and a "rank amateur to plating" like Paul isn't going to be able to electroform aluminum. Thanks again for this informative link though!

Regards,