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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Stripping nickel from copper
adv.
1996
I'm looking for a very fast method to strip Nickel or Cobalt away from Copper alloys.
No use to recommend phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid or cyanide solutions, as the problem here is that the copper base will be heavily attacked.
To have some additional information, the stripper should be able to remove 0.1 you of Nickel or Cobalt within a few seconds.
Any suggestions, commercial electrolytes or already proven solutions in Reel-to-reel plating?
Thanking everyone in advance.
Harry.
Harry van der Zanden
consultant - Tilburg, Netherlands
A. Enthone Enstrip NP. At 145 °F the Nickel will jump off the part leaving slightly brown Cu that can be brightened right up by any standard brite dip/microetch.
Good Luck
Dave, SUNNYvale, California
Dave Kinghorn
Chemical Engineer
SUNNYvale, California
1996
Hi Dave,
Thank you for yr. comment. I ordered some solution thanks to your remark and we start to test it. I keep you informed.
Bye bye,
Harry
Harry van der Zanden
consultant - Tilburg, Netherlands
1996
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Q. First of all, thanks for this perfect site.
Do you know how to strip nickel from copper without pitting on the surface. If I have pitting on the surface, the product will repolish. And that means I have to do the all process. I need more practical way.
Thanks,
Plating - Turkey
2006
A. There is a solution containing metanitrobenzenesulphonic acid and sulfuric acid There is an all important inhibitor to prevent attack of the copper. Brass is safe but steel is dissolved rapidly. You should be able to buy it from any general electroplating supplier. The copper surface will be black and blotchy after stripping.
Nick Clatworthy- Whitstable, Kent, UK
2006
A. The activator in this proprietary process (and most suppliers can offer their version), is an active sulfur compound and I would strongly advise you use a formulated product.
My added comment is to not to use stainless steel baskets etc when processing as it will attack SS vigorously.
Geoffrey Whitelaw
- Port Melbourne, Australia
2006
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
User friendly chemical process for stripping of plated nickel on copper/copper plated substrate
Q. The COMMERCIAL Nickel stripping chemical solution is not user friendly.
The nitric acid compound, is not required. Would anyone offer a suitable ALTERNATE COMPOSITION OF A STRIPPER SOLUTION?
ELECTRO PLATERS - CHENNAI,Tamil Nadu, INDIA
2006
? I don't really understand the question, K.R. What do you mean by the commercial solution is not "user friendly"? What do you mean that nitric acid is "not required"? There are a number of approaches to stripping nickel, from Metalx (Ronatec.us) [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] proprietary solutions, to nitric acid, to cyanide based stripping solutions, to eliminating stripping and just reactivating the defective nickel plating. Please try to be a little more detailed regarding your exact problem. Thanks!
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2006
Q. At present we use a commercial Nickel stripping solution for selective removal of Nickel, over plated Copper.
It is highly toxic and we want to discontinue this product. Other available Nickel strippers are for Nickel over steel. Nitric acid is also avoided because of its toxic nature.
Hence I require a user friendly dip type selective Nickel stripping solution .
ELECTROPLATERS - Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
2006
A. The standard method of stripping nickel from brass as used by tap manufactures etc for over 50 years has been to use a proprietary solution of organic oxidant in 3% sulfuric acid with a very low concentration of thiocyanate as inhibitor/activator. This is as safe as you will get with no attack on the brass.Talk to a reputable metal finishing supplier.
Geoffrey Whitelaw
- Port Melbourne, Australia
2006
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Ammoniated nickel stripper for copper alloy
Q. Hey Guys - Does anyone know what happened to Shipley Strip 428L alkaline ammoniated nickel stripper for copper alloy? Last I knew, they were Shipley Ronal, now I can find nothing with those two names associated. Thanks del mucho.
Randall Fowler - Fowler Industrial Plating, LLC
Cleveland, Tennessee, USA
July 9, 2010
A. Shipley, was bought by Rohm & Haas a few years back, then that division of Rohm & Haas recently merged with Dow Chemical. It is likely that the stripper you were looking for no longer exists, but if it does, then Dow has probably changed the name as well as the price. I used to work with Shipley E-Nickel baths and that was my experience anyway.
Followup: Dow's current version of a nickel stripper for copper is called Nickelstrip CF, but I don't know if it is equivalent to the original Shipley-Ronal formulation. Probably not.
Metalx (Ronatec.us) [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] is an advertiser on this site and they have a product B-929 which is formulated for removing nickel from copper. That could be a good alternate choice for you and I know it works well- especially electrolytically. Good luck.
Jon Barrows, MSF, EHSSC
GOAD Company
Independence, Missouri
July 12, 2010
Thanks Jon. I will follow that lead.
Randall Fowler - Fowler Industrial Plating, LLC
Cleveland, Tennessee, USA
August 11, 2010
A. Randy:
There is a commercially available proprietary stripper that does a nice job of stripping nickel from copper/copper alloys. Jon mentioned Metalx (Ronatec.us) [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] and this is who makes it. However, if this is for mid or high phos EN, it might not be the best choice.
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
August 26, 2010
Q. What is the best way to remove a bright nickel layer not electroless , the base metal is copper
Ahmed Elnokrashy- Alexandria Egypt
October 19, 2020
adv.
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