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Plating on Nickel / Titanium Alloy

We have recently begun trying to Gold plate a dental wire insert that is made of nickel-titanium. Our customer does not know what the percentage of nickel is and we are in the process of determining the composition. In the mean time, does anyone have a good process for plating on this type of alloy?

Jeff Smith
- Franklin, IN
1999

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Since it is for a medical application I would suspect that your nickel-titanium alloy is Nitinol which is a shape memory alloy that is 50% Ni and 50% Ti. Titanium oxide is the main surface contamination on these alloys. This will have to be removed before plating the gold.

John Davis
- Berthoud, Colorado, USA
1999

I am highly familiar with this process. I have 11 years experience plating these exact same items. It requires a dedicated set up line including a acid gold strike, and ammonium bifluoride for oxide removal.

todd Huehn
- blaine , Minnesota
1999