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Nickel plate ductility problems

I plate nickel on 18 gauge copper wire with a 27 wt%, then draw it down to 36 gauge. After a few days using a new nickel sulfamate bath, the wire coming off loses ductility and I can no longer draw to 36 gauge without wire breaks. I was wondering what is causing this and what can be done to prevent it without making a new bath.

david murphy
- inman, South Carolina
1998

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Dear David:

If your problem is caused by organic contamination, continuous solution filtration through an activated carbon filter will help. High bath stress (tensile)may also cause loss of ductility. This situation can be remedied by additives, anode/cathode surface area adjustment, etc.

Good luck, PlaterB

"PlaterB" Berl Stein
NiCoForm, Inc.

Rochester, New York

1998

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Dear Sir,

We are manufacturing rotary nickel screen for rotary printing machine. Our mendral dimension 640mm repeat and 2 mtrs long. We form 40 microns in primary nickel sulphate bath & 60 microns in secondary plating.

Now we established a new bath for secondary plating. We have passed approx. 15000 Ah through the solution, due to lack of proper additive (softner) we are unable to maintain the stardard ductility of the screen.

Please guide us to recover our problem through proper consult.

Daxesh I Bari
- Valsad, Gujarat, India
2001