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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Electroplating of copper and silver onto aluminum

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Q. I need to electroplate an aluminum plate of 0.4 mm & 0.7 mm thickness with copper on one side up to 70 microns and 120 microns of silver on the copper coating. How is it practically possible? if so, what are the procedures to be adapted.

VVN Ravi kumar
power systems - Hyderabad, AP, India
2005

A. Hi Ravi kumar,

Unfortunately you can not plate Copper directly onto Aluminium, first you have to prepare aluminium for plating.

Basic steps after degreasing are Caustic etch, rinse, triacid deoxidation, rinse and zincate.

After Zincate there are many methods employed most common are (1) Nickel Strike in sulfamate nickel, (2) Electroless Nickel, and (3) Copper Strike.

After any one of this you can plate other finishes.
You can get more information in Metal Finishing Guide Book.

Sridhar Bushigampala
- Toronot, ON, Canada
2005

A. Hi Ravi,

To electroplate on aluminum with copper and then silver. To get a good adhesion. That will be a many different pretreatments step depends of with type of aluminum alloy you plating on if the alloy is casting or wrought. There is no problem to get a good adhesion on aluminum with using copper. You should use live entry current in the copper solution.

To get you a good pretreatment step let us know the alloying.

Regards,

Anders Sundman
4th Generation Surface Engineering
Consultant - Arvika,
Sweden
2005

Q. With reference to my question, no book nor article speaks about the thickness of the coating to that level (70 microns of copper & 120 microns of silver) is satisfactory. I could go to some electroplating people in & around Hyderabad , Where they say that beyond 25-30 microns, there is a possibility of peeling off. Is it so?
Also since plating has to be done on one side. Which material is good for masking? since it has to be de-masked after the operation for a clean surface.

VVN Ravi kumar [returning]
power systems - Hyderabad, AP, India
2005

A. 70 microns of copper and 120 of silver is piece of cake when you know some basic tricks. As a matter of fact copper and silver are among the metals that have been plated in higher thicknesses as they are very ductile and their deposits low in stress. Find a knowledgeable plater or hire a qualified consultant in your region.

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
2005

adv.

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