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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Control methods

In the framework of my internship, I am doing a benchmarking about electroplating bath control. What kind of on-line control methods do exist nowadays ?

Kévin Menguelti
- maizieres les metz, Lorraine, France
2003

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That's a pretty broad question. Remember that temperature has been controlled by on-line control for decades and is virtually universal. Frankly, not much else is controlled by on-line control. Certainly a number of automatic controllers were sold for electroless copper solutions, and there have been a few automatic titration systems installed for other plating solutions, but it's still almost universally done manually.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

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Thanks for your response Ted, I would like more specifics indications about automatic titration systems for plating solutions(short method principle and instrumentation to measure components contents of electroplating baths) please. Or where can I find these informations?

Thanks in advance.

Kévin Menguelti
- Maizières-lès-Metz, Lorraine, France
2003

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A general introduction can be found in "Control of Plating Chemistry by Voltammetric Techniques", by Marc L. Rothstein, Plating & Surface Finishing, Nov. 1984. I'm confident that the MFIS-CDROM could find you several other literature citations.

In my personal experience, though, this idea just never really took off and there seems to be less interest today than there was in the 1980's when several suppliers were promoting it. I would suggest using a search engine with terms like "on-line analysis plating", and getting some current literature from those companies offering it.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

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Dear Ted, Thank you for your answer which helped me in my research.

Best Regards. Kev. (Kiss from Hélène my wife)

Kévin Menguelti
- Maizières-lès-Metz, Lorraine, France
2003

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You're certainly welcome Kev. I think EG&G Princeton Applied Research may still be involved in this, but I don't know any other companies that are. I hear Lorraine is beautiful this time of year; can I collect the kiss in person instead of virtually? :-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003