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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Stain on electroless nickel
Q. We manufactured chamber form carbon steel and plated it with electroless nickel. The size of the chamber is 1m on 1m on 1m. After the plating we find out that there is some fluidity marks on the plating. We cleaned the tank with ultrasonic cleaner and detergent.
The marks became stronger.
We tasted the chamber and find out that it is very clean but we can't use it with stains.
Please let me know if you familiar with this phenomena, how to avoid it in the feature and if there is something that I can do now to clean the stains.
development - Israel
2005
A. Stains can come from insufficient or contaminated final rinse or unbalanced (old) bath. Once developed they are very difficult to remove, specially from such a small part. Verify rinse quality (if desperate make it a little alkaline to neutralize any drag).
Guillermo MarrufoMonterrey, NL, Mexico
2005
A. Have you tried sanding the surfaces with a 400 grain sandpaper. This should work, since the stains are within the first few microns.
If you polish with white color (very fine aluminum oxide particles with wax) polishing compound, all the stains will disappear, but you will have a bright item. If you don't like it bright, then you can re-sand, this time with 600 grain sandpaper, and get a semi bright finish without stains.
I wish good luck.
Best regards,
- San Antonio de Los Altos, Edo. Miranda, Venezuela
2005
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