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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Electroless nickel
Q. Hi ,
1. Is it possible to electroplate further on ENP (high phosphorous).
2. Is it possible to plate en on EN.
Thanks in anticipation,
Qutubuddin Saify- Ajman, U.A.E.
2002
A. 1. Sure. The best quality chrome plated wheels include electroless nickel plating before the decorative nickel-chrome.
2. I don't see why not, although I assume you have to do rigorous activation.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Thanks Ted, would you help me with the activation steps.
Best regards,
Qutubuddin Saify- Ajman, U.A.E.
A. To activate EN you should use a strike nickel solution or a cathodic cyanide cleaner.
Sara Michaeli
Tel-Aviv-Yafo, Israel
November 2013
A. Hi Qutubuddin. A Wood's Nickel Strike is probably the best way to activate electroless nickel for plating. But the sooner you do the plating the better.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Hi all,
Is there any way to re-activate electroless nickel without using current?
- Oxfordshire, UK
May 2, 2019
A. Hi Claudio. Almost anything is possible. Simply stripping the electroless nickel and starting over is one way. We have nearly a dozen other threads that talk about re-activating electroless nickel if you are patient in searching the site.
But as often the case it all depends on many things that haven't been mentioned yet: what is the substrate; is it low, mid, or high phosphorous EN; has it been heat treated? Why do you want to re-activate -- to chrome plate, to add more electroless nickel? Was the need for more nickel discovered immediately or months later -- usually the older the nickel is, the harder it is to activate.
Finally, how imperative is it that current not be used? If it is totally unacceptable to use electricity, stripping the nickel and starting over might be the only option. But if you're just browsing for a cheaper option than Wood's Nickel but still highly reliable, there probably isn't one. Details please.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 2019
May 8, 2019
Q. Hi Ted,
Thanks for your reply, here are some infos:
1. The substrate is mid phosphorous nickel
2. It is not heat treated (except the drying step which is in a oven but less than 100 °C degrees. I can also avoid to dry it in a oven if required)
3. I don't want to strip it. I would like to remove the oxides on the surface for further electroless plating. So, after reactivation, I will put a seed layer of Palladium and, on top of it another electroless coating (could be either Ni or Cu).
4. This nickel coating could be few weeks old.
5. Avoiding current is strictly mandatory, that's why I can't use electro-cleaning and Wood's nickel strike
Hope it helps but if you need any other info, please feel free to ask.
- Oxford, UK
A. Hi again. The recognized way to activate is with Wood's Nickel or a similar strike bath; second choice would probably be stripping and starting over. When you eliminate those, I don't think there is a proven answer, only suggestions for experiments ...
by Jack Dini
on AbeBooks
or eBay or
Amazon
(affil links)
And when it comes to that, it's time for my favorite plating text book and the weirdest, Dini's "Electrodeposition" which includes possibilities from mechanical roughening to strong acids to diffusion of the plating layers to try to regain adhesion. Maybe roughening followed by seeding and the second electroless layer, followed by diffusion baking to tie them together? Or hopefully an experienced electroless nickel plater can relate some idea that worked for them.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 2019
May 9, 2019
Asked and answered before (thread 17382). I have used this on old, passive nickel with excellent results.
Clean, Rinse, Activate, rinse, plate in any conventional nickel bath.
A. Here is the iodine activation formula -
Add to one gallon of water the following chemicals:
3 Fluid ounces of concentrated sulfuric acid slowly with stirring.
One third ounce of Potassium Iodide.
0.002 Ounce = 0.062 Grams of solid Iodine.
The Potassium Iodide is dissolved in a separate small amount of water and the solid iodine is added. When the iodine has dissolved the solution is added to the cold diluted sulfuric acid solution and thoroughly mixed. In use, the iodine should be added periodically to maintain a straw color.
Ambient temp, no current, 1-2 minutes.
Rinse.
Nickel plate
Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Thanks Jeffrey!
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 2019
Thank you very much!
- Oxfordshire, UK
May 10, 2019
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May 12, 2019 I am sure that Jeffrey's activator works  Geoff Smith Hampshire, England
Regards, Ted Mooney, P.E. RET Striving to live Aloha finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey May 2019 June 8, 2019 I dunno' about your comments, Ted. Being an American, I've known our gallons/inches/pounds system as long as I can remember, but being a Chemistry major, I'm entirely comfortable with the metric system, and can use either interchangeably. The tires on my cars are 145/13 and 245/17. LOL! Jeffrey Holmes, CEF Spartanburg, South Carolina A. Hi again Jeffrey. Presumably you at least agree that the metric system is inherently far superior? Rachel Mackintosh previously quoted Josh Bazell's 'Wild Thing':
HOW TO USE THE METRIC SYSTEM
"In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree Celsius, which is one percent of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same amount has exactly one mole of atoms in it. Whereas in the American system, the answer to How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water? is Go f*** yourself, because you can't directly relate any of those quantities." Regards, Ted Mooney, P.E. RET Striving to live Aloha finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey June 2019 June 10, 2019
"Presumably you at least agree that the metric system is inherently far superior?" Jeffrey Holmes, CEF Spartanburg, South Carolina |
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