Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Nickel Activation - Cathodic or Anodic?

March 8, 2009

Dear sir,
I run an electroplating shop for semiconductor plating.Recently, I am asked to activate nickel that has undergone curing processes in the assembly of LED.I wonder if nickel can be activated cathodically by using sulfamic acid ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] or sulfuric acid. Hope you can enlighten me on whether cathodic or anodic activation works best and common activation approach. Thank you
Adrian

Adrian Gal
Electroplater - Penang, Malaysia

March 9, 2009

Hi, Adrian. A Wood's Nickel strike bath would usually be used for this, rather than a simple acid salt. Some people find that an anodic cycle before the cathodic strike can be useful, I understand, but this may be something you need to work out by experiment. Jack Dini's "Electrodeposition: The Materials Science of Coatings and Substrates" has a great chapter on 'Adhesion' that covers this issue of activating nickel and includes tables of adhesion values.

Regards,

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

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