Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Direct Silver Plating onto 304 Stainless Steel (or steel)
Q. Dear Sir,
I am looking for information on DIRECT SILVER PLATING on 304 Stainless Steel without any under coat of Ni or Cu etc. Can you please help me. This information is required because of academic curiosity to conduct further investigations on the subject.
G Ananda RaoIndian Institute of Science - Bangalore, Karnataka, INDIA
2003
A. Ideally the stainless steel should be cleaned in a suitable alkaline cleaner, followed by a good cathodic cleaner. It is possible to plate straight on to stainless steel by using a silver strike (based on cyanide) but the preferred route is to use a copper cyanide strike, followed by silver. The essential thing is to get the metal oxides off the stainless steel and cyanides are quite good at that.
Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2003
A. Direct silver plating bath for stainless steel:
20 gm. silver chloride
40 gm. potassium carbonate
40 gm. potassium ferrocyanide
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Stainless steel anodes, if you want to use silver anodes add 100 gm.sodium sulphite/ from one Russian book.
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2003
Q. I am looking for the process of Silver Plating on Low CARBON STEEL / Stainless Steel Wires of SWG 36.
Manish M [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]- Kolkata, West Bangal, India
2003
Hi Manish.
As you see, we appended your inquiry to a previous thread which may answer it for you. It is best to copper plate then silver strike first. A responder in letter 38532 also suggests this sequence. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
July 2012
How to silver plate nichrome
Q. How can I do silver plating on nichrome based metal plate?
sandip panchalshree chamunda silverplating works - Ahmedabad, gujarat, India
July 7, 2018
A. Hi Sandip. As a silver plater you already recognize the several steps involved in silver plating, and you already recognize the various things that can go wrong or cause difficulties, such as poor adhesion, poor coloration, poor throwing power with heavy thicknesses in one area and low thicknesses in another, etc. What problems are you having and what are you trying to silver plate -- nichrome wire, strip, or individual items? Are you brush plating, rack plating, or barrel plating? Can you use a nickel strike? Are you using conventional cyanide silver? Do you do cyanide copper under it?
Nichrome is deliberately of high resistance, so it is possible that its resistance is causing you problems with your racking or barreling arrangements. It is difficult to activate, like stainless steel. It is also difficult to etch.
Please be specific about what you've tried and what specific difficulties you are encountering. Thanks!
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
July 2018
Q. Sir, I tried to do copper plating on it but the coating is never sustained … I even used sodium cyanide for doing silverplating, but same thing happens again. The layer is never sustained on the metal.
So my biggest question is: is electroplating on nichrome possible or not?
And I've also done everything … I used copper sulphate, sodium cyanide, barrel plating …
shree chamunda silverplating works - ahmedabad, gujarat, India
July 13, 2018
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