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Achieving uniform plating thickness in bores/ ID of cylindrical shaped components

2006

Dear All,

I have been worrying of late with my zinc plating on a component (pulley) which is not getting a 6 micron plating thickness at the ID bore. As of now I am holding the component in that bore only with a jig with a pvc coating . where do you see the problem is ? Also I am unable to achieve the Salt spray test requirements as well. I am wandering what process/ bath parameters will actually regulate the plating quality in terms of pinholes, porosity, pitting, Salt spray life . please suggest your recommendations.

Regards,
Kalyan kumar Thekuru
Quality manager - Mumbai, Maharastra, India

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Electroplating does not give uniform plating thickness, Kalyan. The best you can hope for is "good enough" uniformity. Please sketch your racking situation because I cannot understand what you are saying. Whole books have been written on zinc plating, so it is hard to describe the most critical aspects, but please tell us your parameters and hopefully you'll receive comments if they seem irregular.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2006