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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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Contamination of watts nickel system by fluoborate?
How is Watts nickel electroplating effected if it's contaminated with other anions from a pickling system such as: fluoborates and nitrates? We work with 10% fluoboric acid for pickling but sure it's dragged into plating solution system and accumulated. We have a problem plating on ring item that it's darkening inside and with log priode it has no lustre and no brightness. Activated carbon treatment and plating out by dummy plating has not affected it significantly. I feel it's caused by anion contamination and solution has not been purified with all these methods, exception by drying and crystallizing. True or not? What can we do?
Makky Abdullah- Gresik, Indonesia
June 1, 2008
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Ed. note: There's a typo in there, but I'm not figuring out what "log priode" was supposed to be :-(
June 4, 2008
Small amounts of fluoboric acid will not have a huge effect on nickel plate from a Watts tank as long as the pH remains in the recommended zone.
Nitric will cause the plate to look dull then gray then dark as the nitrate ion increases.
There is no GOOD way to get the nitrate out of the solution. Dump the tank and remake it, it is cheaper in the long run.
Also, add more rinse tanks and have them cascade counter flow so you do not contaminate the new tank.
- Navarre, Florida
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