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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET

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for Metal Finishing 1989-2025

Thread 138/58
Silver plating voltage vs. thickness
Looking for specification or standards that will tell me how much voltage to use in silver plating versus the thickness that you have.
Rena Cummings- Fort Payne, Alabama
publicly reply to Rena Cummings
You will plate out a constant weight of silver per amp-minute but you need to know your surface area to determine thickness.
Neil BellAlbuquerque, New Mexico
publicly reply to Neil Bell
Voltage is a different variable entirely, Ms. Cummings. Actually, you're looking for ampere-hours versus thickness. You can work this out from Faraday's Law, or take the shortcut of looking it up in the back of the Metal Finishing Guidebook.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
publicly reply to Ted Mooney
Dear Friend,
Voltage has nothing to do with thickness. The required voltage could be 1 to 2.5-3.0 depending on the make up of solution, anode area, cathode rod movement, filtration speed, distance of anode to the piece,etc.
Actual plating trials will give you the right voltage in the above region.
The thickness of deposit would be based upon two factors
a)the total current passed and B)the surface area on which the current has been passed.
First calculate the surface area of the piece to be plated.
Then determine thickness required.
Pass current according to thickness required.
Any further queries you may come back again.
- Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
publicly reply to Amit Pabuwal
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