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Difference between Silver Flash and Silver Plating

April 1, 2009

Hi,

I'm rather new to surface finishing techniques. But we have a few copper bus drawings which state 0.0005" thick Silver Flash as finish.

Is Silver Flash technique different from Silver Plating technique? If so, how different and which one is better?

What is the ideal surface finish thickness?

Suresh Srikantaiah
Designer - India

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Hi, Suresh. "Flash" is a word usually used when the plating is unusually thin; the term is probably derived from the fact that the color can be seen with just a few millionths of an inch thickness. If you specify the thickness, as in this case, there is no difference between silver flash and silver plating.

But, in general, plating thicknesses are not a go/no-go thing where silver plating should be xxxx" thick and gold should be yyyy" and nickel should be zzzz". Rather, there is a full range of thicknesses based on the required corrosion resistance, freedom from porosity, etc. The required thickness is based on the totality of the circumstances, but reviewing a few MIL and ASTM standards should give you a feel for it. 5/10,000ths of an inch is fairly thin for silver plating, but it's way thicker than a flash.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 3, 2009