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Pitting on cast aluminum after electroless nickel

The situation I'm in is supplying quality parts for our own products. We do BGA for the semi-conductor industry. The current problem we have is electroless nickel on machined cast aluminum plate. After plating, the parts come out with a pitted finish. This looks quite ugly and unprofessional. Any advise for our plater would be highly welcomed.

Regards,

Dennis W. Leto
Production Mgr. - Tucson, Arizona, USA
2004

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My advice for your plater would be for him to fix the problem before he loses all of his customers :-)

Unfortunately, Mr. Leto, it's probably not realistic that you could briefly describe a problem like this and someone be able to advise your plater what process adjustments he needs to make to fix it. It's rather like telling your doctor that a neighbor's child has a temperature of 101, or telling your mechanic that your neighbor's car takes too long to start. The cause can be very complicated and very interrelated with many factors.

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

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See my answer to #27117

Don Baudrand
Consultant - Poulsbo, Washington
(Don is co-author of "Plating on Plastics" [on Amazon or AbeBooks affil links]
           and "Plating ABS Plastics" [on Amazon or eBay or AbeBooks affil links])
2004