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Ni plating- Carbon Substrate

1999

Hi,

I want to use electroless Ni to plate a carbon substrate. Is there any recipes for this?

Thanks,
Ben

Ben Craft

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Gawrilov mentions carbon and diamond substrates, covered by a 1969 patent, basically activate with Palladium chloride pH 4.2-4.8, using sodium citrate as a buffer, neutralize with some ammonia ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] solution, then Ni-P plate. Also some schemes of heat treating in between some Ni-P steps in some sequence which apparently improves adhesion by diffusion of C and Ni-P molecules.

Gawrilov, Chemical (Electroless) Nickel Plating, Portcullis Press, Redhill, 1979. This book, perhaps because of its small profile, many references, loads of information, charts, graphs, formulae, and photos, has apparently become widely distributed in metal finishing libraries. Interestingly, the section on solderability is one page long, and I found it referenced in the ASM Metals handbook Volume 5: Surface Engineering, in the section on Electroless Nickel. There is a curious reference in Gawrilov, about preheating the electroless nickel to 100C before soldering. I don't know how practical this recommendation is for automated soldering, but the recommendation was carried over into the Metals guidebook.(It is such a low temperature compared to soldering temperature, that it doesn't seem there would be any use to hold a part at that temperature during the ramp up to soldering temperature.)

  
Tom Pullizzi
Falls Township, Pennsylvania