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Electroless Nickel-Zinc Plating

Hello,

I am woundering if there is an Elecrtoless Nickel-Zinc Plating Process or if Zinc can be added to Electroless Nickel to create a similar product.

As Idustrial Powder Coaters we specialize in larger items and my research has shown that the best alterative to hot-dip galvanizing as a pre-treatment for outdoor items are tin-zinc plating or nickel-zinc plating. But the large nature of our work would take an extremely large powder source to achieve any sort of coating, let alone one thick enough to compete with galvanizing.

Electroless seems to have the right combination of being cyanide free, give an even plaing thickness and only requires the bath to be heated.

Any help with this situation would greatly be appreciated.

Regards,

Peter Osborne
Powder Coater - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2006

There's more than meets the eye about electroless technology. It's not just a matter of heating the solution and immersing the parts. It requires a great deal of knowledge to prepare the parts and to control the solution and keep it balanced thru its life. It requires frequent analysis also. Commercial electroless nickel solutions provide an alloy of either phosphorous or boron. Not easy or cheap and hardly will compete against galvanizing in almost any situation. I haven't heard of electroless nickel-zinc.

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
2006