Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Silver plating on top of tin plating
Q. We are using tin plating on pure brass material. Our process includes precleaning with TCE then hot vapour degreasing and then to tin plating (10 V, 1 hr). This plated material goes to spot welding and then comes back again for silver plating. When we do direct silver plating on this, we face problem of tarnishing of the finish. So we have started stripping off the tin plating first and then doing silver plating. Stripping we are doing with nitric acid and sulfuric acid mixture.
1) I want to ask is this process okay?
2) Can we do silver plating directly on tin plated material so that we can save our stripping cost?
Manish DhyaniBCH -New Delhi, India
2004
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Q. 3) What is the replacement for Trichloroethylene -- is there any cheaper chemical? Manish DhyaniBCH -New Delhi, India 2004 A. Dear Sir, - New Delhi, India 2006 ---- |
Q. I have customer that has inquired as to specification that calls out Silver plating over Tin. The base metal is copper followed by Copper plate, Nickel plate and Tin plate.
Anyone know of the reason for the Silver plating over Tin plating?
Management- Supplier - Anaheim, California
2007
A. It would make sense if it said copper-nickel-tin OR silver.
Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
Spartanburg, South Carolina
A. Silver and tin are two of the most "walking" metals we work with. The two metals will migrate into each other and you will have a new alloy.
Robert H Probert
Robert H Probert Technical Services
Garner, North Carolina
Q. Hello sir,
I would like to know about the difference between silver plating on copper and silver plating on tinned copper, i.e., tin flashing 2 to 3µm on copper.
I want to use this on a moving contact which should have silver plating on contact surface and tin plating on fixing surface.
- Chennai, India
August 1, 2014
Can you plate silver over tin plating
Q. My name is Fred and we need silver plated electrical connector that are silver plated. the lead time for the connectors is long. We have a lot of tin plated connectors and I wondered if it is possible to plate the tin connectors with silver and save time and use up our existing stock.
thank you for your help
fabricator - Morgan hill, California, USA
June 15, 2015
A. Hello Fred,
You can plate silver over tin, but it would not be advisable. Tin is not known as a good diffusion barrier, so the base metal and tin will migrate into the silver plated layer. You will end up with a silver plated alloy. As you probably know, silver is the best conductor at room temperature. With migration taking place you end up sacrificing the good characteristics of a silver coating. Contact resistance of the connector will be compromised. You didn't mention the base metal of the connector, but you could set aside a group of parts, strip the tin, run through a good cleaning cycle, activate, Ni plate, then silver plate. This plating cycle would of course have to be compatible with your customer's requirements. Good Luck.
Process Engineering - Phoenix, Arizona USA
Q. Dear sir,
We want to plate tin over silver anklets, and again pure silver plating on those tin coated silver anklets. We hope this process could give better shining and white surface. Is it possible sir? Kindly clarify.
With regards,
Electroplating of silver on Silver anklets - Salem,Tamil nadu, India
March 10, 2017
A. Sure, you can plate tin onto silver and silver onto tin, but why? Just use a bright silver plating bath and plate directly over the existing silver item. That way the silver content of your anklet will remain as high as the original.
Neil BellRed Sky Plating
Albuquerque, New Mexico
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