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

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Cadmium contamination of nickel plating bath

Q. I use military cadmium plated connectors in my design. I have been told that cadmium plating will contaminate nickel plated connectors as well as contribute to structural fatigue. Can anyone confirm the validity of these assumptions,or shed any light on the nature of the contamination and structural fatigue process?

Ronald J [surname deleted for privacy by Editor]
military avionics producer - West Milford, New Jersey, USA
2003

Q. Do slight impurities of cadmium in nickel plates affect the plating done?

Hardik Khandelwal
plating shop employee - Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
December 31, 2010

A. Cad plate is not a contamination in any way to nickel plate. As far as your fatigue question, there are stresses induced from plating. They may be insignificant. Someone may be able to tell you definitively, but I suspect that they will want more details about the processing and the connectors.

Jon Barrows, MSF, EHSSC
GOAD Company

Independence, Missouri

2003

"Cadmium (Environmental Health Criteria Series)"
by World Health Organization
cadmium_health

on eBay

or AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

!! This is just a reminder to readers, not the writers, to please look carefully at your designs to make sure that cadmium plating is indispensable before specifying it. It is a bio-accumulative poison and other materials such as zinc alloys or electroless nickel should be used instead if possible.

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

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