The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
-----

Titanium anode basket activation

Q. We are currently using SnPb plating and Pure tin matte finish chemistry and our machines are Meco EDF+EPL 2400's strip to strip. Can you please explain to us how the titanium basket become passivated? Is this also similar to the passivation of anode balls? How do you activate it if it is passivated? What will be its impact on the plating solution and its implication on the finish product?

Thanks!

Michael T [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
semiconductor - Laguna
2005

---

I don't think that this is a problem, Michael. The anode basket does become 'passivated' with a thin coating of titanium oxides due to its having a positive charge on it, but this should not interfere with it carrying the current to the anodes that are in it (although I have heard of such baskets being provided with additional current carrying strips of another metal. I've personally never heard of activating passivated titanium anode baskets, although it is possible to strip off any oxide film.

Your question seems rather abstract to me, asking how something would happen & why it would happen, if it were to happen, and what problems it might cause if it were to happen :-)

I'd rather hear it from the opposite direction: i.e., what problems you are actually having that are making you suspect this issue of passivated anode baskets? How are you feeding the tin and lead into the solution -- with a mix of tin and lead anode balls? Thanks.

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