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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Dangers of acids & alkalis in electroplating
Q. Hi,
I will soon operate an electroplating facility for a company. Zinc pieces will get covers of copper, nickel and/or silver, later gold. The baths have volumes of 200 liter. The plant is almost ready, people are now still constructing it. I know the chemical products from the info given by the supplier. The process looks rather classic (preparation, activation, Cu alk.,Cu acid, NiCl2 & NiSO4, Ag-salt).
Reading the info of the supplier, it seems like I will be walking and working between baths with constant threat ("toxic", ...). So I am thinking of using a mask, gloves, cloth, glasses,.. whatever exists to protect myself. Or is the supplier covering his back and am I exaggerating? Someone in the company with a bit of experience, tells me he used almost nothing to protect himself.
electroplating department - Mexico
2005
A. H.L. Mencken wrote: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins". Today the media as well as the politicians depend upon those hobgoblins for their living -- we'll stay up for the 11 o'clock news (and its commercials) because the newscasters issue teasers warning us of the hidden dangers we won't know about if we don't ... yes, the potential dangers of electroplating can be easily exaggerated.
Still, we are -- at the very least -- speaking of strong acids, alkalis, and cyanides that can burn, blind or kill ...so its appropriate to wear boots, rubber gloves
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Amazon [affil links] when working in a plating shop. And, depending upon what you're doing, an apron
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, full
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, elbow length chemical_gloves, and respirator will be appropriate at times.
The fact that one or many employees have escaped uninjured doesn't mean that personnel protective equipment is not appropriate! Most police officers wear bullet proof vests every single day despite our expectation that the average officer will not have a bullet fired at them even once in their whole career. The odds of you encountering a splash or other exposure to dangerous chemicals are much much greater than a police officer being fired upon. Prudence rather than paranoia :-)
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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