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Plating a nickel surface to avoid mucous membranes irritation

How can I plate a 90% Nickel alloy sheet about 0.3mm of thickness that will be contacting human tissue on one side and has glass bonded on the other side. Also the thickness of the film should be under 30 microns approximately.

Thank you

Carlos Robayo
Research Facility - Newport Beach, California, USA
2005

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First of three simultaneous responses -- 2005

Is this a small tool that gets steam sterilized?
Gold is best. Maybe another precious metal (Pd, Pt, Rh), chromium, Teflon® or TiN would work. Thicknesses would mostly be 5 to 10 microns; perhaps 1-2 for TiN and 25 microns for Teflon®.

Ken Vlach [deceased]
- Goleta, California
Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.
Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to benefit from.

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Second of three simultaneous responses --

You can use palladium or rhodium plating(You must test it,I think that palladium is better).
Good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2005

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Third of three simultaneous responses -- 2005

You can plate it with almost anything that doesn't contain nickel. I suspect you are concerned about nickel itch; I would avoid cobalt and chromium, as these are both considered a potential health risk by some people. One trick may be to coat the thing with titanium nitride and then electroplate gold onto the TiN. This is an old jewellery trick that increases the wear resistance of the gold by having a "rough" surface of hard titanium nitride filled with gold. The two have very similar colours, so you cannot tell which is the gold and which the TiN. Be careful to use pure gold, not a low carat one, or it amy contain nickel!

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK