Silver plating on copper wire problems & solutions

A. Hi Jaiprakash. Faraday's Law dictates that the same amount of electrochemical activity will happen at the anode as at the cathode. However, some of that electrochemical activity can go towards something other than dissolution and deposition of silver. It is not uncommon, for example, especially in cyanide-based electroplating, to generate a lot of hydrogen at the cathode. Any electrons consumed in liberating hydrogen means that many fewer electrons available to deposit silver. So metal content often increases over time as dissolution is more 'efficient' than deposition.

High current reduces cathode efficiency so it will accentuate the problem; and high current and/or temperature can contribute to breakdown of any brighteners as well. For the best help with your situation please try to tell us your situation, i.e., what is actually happening, rather than casting your questions as hypotheticals without context. Thanks.

Luck & Regards,

A. In general, it should help, Malay ... but again, you will get more & better help if you introduce yourself and tell us the full details of your actual situation. Hypothetical situations always introduce ifs-and-&-buts which discourage readers from responding if they don't want to get involved in pulling teeth :-)

For example, Robert and Sara assert in thread 51925 that those anodes will increase carbonates, but if they respond with that piece of information, now they will be the ones introducing possibly extraneous ifs-and-&-buts depending on your situation, like whether your silver bath is sodium or potassium based, which they don't know :-)

So please try your best to detail your situation. Thanks!

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi, Arvind.

If plated properly it will surely not peel off, and I wouldn't expect it to wear off either. But surely you can simply buy silver plated wire without having to learn the art & science of electroplating, and installing an electroplating plant and waste treatment installation?

If you do decide to make the silver-plated copper wire yourself, please see "E-Brite 50/50 -- A unique cyanide-free alkaline silver plating process" by the site's supporting advertiser, EPI / Electrochemical Products Inc. [a finishing.com supporting advertiser]. Good luck!

A. Dear Mr. Arvind,

Because the wire is electroplated, peeling is not possible. Moreover transformer oil will act as an anti-tarnishing agent so the silver will never wear off.

There are manufacturers of these silver plated copper wires and transformers.

A. Dear Bob!

You can use simple immersion silvering solution (very thin silver layer, but very simple and cheap process).If oxidation is only problem maybe nickel plate is better solution.

A. If you want to silver plate copper wire in significant quantities, hire an expert consultant and be prepared to make a large capital investment.

A. Hi cousin Umesh. You can certainly establish such a company if you wish! Good luck with the endeavor!

But this involves expertise in at least 3 broad technologies: electroplating, drawing of wire, and the mechanicals & electronics of continuous web processing lines. Unfortunately, no one could even begin to present all the necessary information in a posting appropriate to a public forum. However, when you reach the point where you can ask specific questions that can be answered in a paragraph or two, we'd be delighted to try to help you!

Luck & Regards,

A. You say that you are electroplating onto the copper, Nainesh. So what is the anode connection connected to, and why not just connect it to silver anodes and forget the nitric acid dissolution stuff? Am I missing something?

A. I apologize, Nainesh, but I am unfamiliar with what you are describing. As far as I am aware, silver platers uses silver anodes and silver plating solutions. I've personally never seen a professional silver plating shop try to melt or dissolve silver into nitric acid and add potassium cyanide. In the USA they might be arrested :-)
But maybe someone else has.

A. Mr. Patel

Best and easy way to get Silver potassium cyanide available in the market to use for plating purpose. Use brightener to get bright finish.

This is the easiest way, not what you are following now.

A. Hi, cousin Desai! Hopefully a reader will help you with this. But this is just a public forum, not a consulting service. No one posting here should "wait for our answer" because sometimes it can months before the right reader comes along :-)

Is this an immersion silvering operation? Is it a conventional cyanide silver bath? The chemistries of the two are far apart. What is the wire size and how thick is the silver plating please? And sorry, I don't know quite what you mean by "two-tone" in this context.Thanks!

Regards,

A. Dear Desai Vatsal Vatsal R,

Many possibilities and not just one answer therefore possible. The answers could range from:
1. Add a brightener in your silver electrolyte (consult the professional suppliers to deliver one that fits your process or look on the electroplating sources of knowledge if you want to mix your own. Keep in mind that some brighteners harden the Silver or reduce the conductivity and I don't know your application) and/or
2. Check the electrolyte velocity at your wire surface and/or
3. Check/modify Ag strike condition and current to
4. Check for local too high current density and
5. Look for contaminants in your electrolyte.

Anyway, having a brightener added, you should implement controls (as for all the other parameters) in order to have a constant Ag quality. Therefore I agree with Mr. Mooney, hire a skilled person to guide you through. Good luck. Harry.

A. Hi Bhupesh. What is the present silver thickness?

The colors in pictures can be quite deceptive as the world learned from "the Dress", which millions said was gold & white, while other millions claimed it was black & blue. But from this distance and your picture, your silver looks too thin to do more than impart a pastel tint; it doesn't look thick enough to impart a saturated color no matter how you tweak it.

Luck & Regards,

A. Bhupesh

Electroplate the wire at a larger diameter, then draw to the finish size using diamond dies.

Unless your silver plating is total garbage, the finished wire will be mirror bright.