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Nickel conforms with RoHS?

2006

Hi
Does Nickel plating conform with RoHS? A new so-called plating "environmental friendly nickel", it claims that it confirms with RoHS. Have you heard it?

Thanks.

Bernard Lee

Lee Ming Chung
screw manufacturing - Hong Kong

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If you're talking about just nickel electroplating, it would likely always be RoHS compliant as cad, lead, mercury and hex chrome shouldn't be in the electrolyte and shouldn't ever codeposit under normal operating conditions. If it did co-deposit, I'm imagining that any of such RoHS restricted material would be a contaminant and that the level would be well below the 1,000 ppm threshold concentration (or lower for cad in some nations!) so would still be RoHS compliant.

On the other hand, electroless nickel is very likely to contain either lead or cadmium which have traditionally been used to either brighten (cad) or stabilize (lead) the bath. Both are in the bath at only single digit ppm levels but are found in concentrations well over 1,000 ppm in the deposit. These electroless nickel coatings are then NON-RoHS compliant!

The answer then is which type of nickel you're talking about!

Milt Stevenson, Jr.
Syracuse, New York
2006

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2006

Sir,
I have a question in light of Mr. Stevenson's response. how can a bath (in this case, electroless) having a single digit ppm cadmium/lead deposit 1000 ppm of the same?
My second question is that can one include cadmium/lead in electroless baths in such amounts that they deposit well under 1000 ppm or cadmium/lead should not be used at all?

Thank you,

Sonali Kokane
electroplating chemicals - Mumbai, India

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Mr. Kokane - I suggest you do the math! Typical nickel in EN chemistry is 6 grams/Liter or 6 g / 1000 g or 6,000 ppm. What is 1 ppm in 6,000 ppm of nickel as deposited? As the bath ages and one puts in more stabilizer (lead) to keep it stable and from plating out and in more brightener (cadmium) to offset loss of brightness, both climb. There are several reports available on electronic firms that have analyzed EN deposits and found anywhere from a couple hundred to well over 1,500 ppm of lead and/or cad in the deposits.

Milt Stevenson, Jr.
Syracuse, New York
2006

Thank you Mr. Stevenson,

Sonali Kokane
electroplating chemicals - Thane, Maharashtra, India
2006

Ni-plating on screw have RoHS Compliance?

Rakesh Sharma
- Noida, UP, India
February 23, 2011