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Titanium anode basket problem

Dear all, I'm a newbie in plating industry, and I got a problem in titanium basket. is titanium basket has life? why everyone told me the titanium basket is dead, but actually, the titanium basket can't run properly. I tried to sand off the layer and resume shiny metal outlook, but the current of plating still very fluctuate. someone put stainless steel in the bath before, but it affect the copper bath, now I can only use a graphite to increase conduction and stabilize the current. What is the root cause of this problem? Can I solve this problem by my own? Thanks

Anthony Wong
Copper/Silver plating - HKSAR
2005

When you say you sanded the layer off down to a shiny surface, you may have removed the Titanium. The metal is matte grey in appearance and should not "shine". If the baskets are coated with a thin layer of titanium they do have a shelf life, especially if the anode current density is taxed from time to time (when anode to cathode ratio is way out of whack). You may have exposed stainless steel on the baskets which would affect current flow. Are you adding an excess amount of copper to the bath? What kind of copper plating solution are we talking about here?

Mark Baker
process engineer - Malone, New York
2005

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2005

Mark Baker is probably right that some things are made of titanium clad stainless steel, but I'm confident that your anode baskets are solid titanium.

Titanium anode baskets can exhibit high contact resistance because of their oxidized surface and still function just fine as anode baskets. Stop trying to deoxidize them because they'll immediately oxidize again anyway. I'd look elsewhere for the problem, perhaps at the copper anodes themselves, or a bad rectifier, or bad connections.

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