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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Chrome Remover and Nickel Activator recipes?

1998

Asking around about chrome removers and nickel activator for use in gold plating preps has shown that sodium hydroxide is used for the remover and sodium bisulphate for the activator, both of which I have lots of in dry form. My question is, what kind of %wt concentration is good for making these solutions?

Thanks,
Danny

Danny Miller

A. I'm not sure if you heard accurately. Sodium hydroxide is used to electrolytically strip chromium; it is not an immersion process. The proper formulation and operating conditions can be found in the "Stripping Metallic Coatings" chapter of the Metal Finishing Guidebook. A sodium bisulphate acid salt MIGHT properly activate nickel, but I think you'd be better off buying a commercial proprietary nickel activator or a combination activator-strike solution.

P.S.: If you are not a trained professional plater, operating from suitable facilities, you need to think seriously about how you are going to dispose of that stripping solution and the hexavalent chromium it will contain.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
1998

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