Should my jewelry line be vacuum silver plated?

? Hi Margot. Hopefully you'll get some technical responses to your question, and some alternate proposals if the answers aren't what you wish (and I suspect they won't be). But there can be practical issues as well -- for example, whereas electroplating can be done onesy-twosy, literally in a teacup in some cases, vacuum plating is generally only practical for substantial volume.

When you use the phrase "my jewelry range" rather than "our jewelry range" or "my corporation's jewelry range" I wonder what your volume is? While awaiting an answer, please tell us how many pieces could represent a batch. Thanks.

Luck & Regards,

A. I would like make two points.
1.If a bright glittering finish is required an intermediate NiCr (or something else) plating would be required. This would also act as a barrier between silver and brass.
2. I don't see why a vacuum coated silver should have longer life. Being a soft metal it would wear out depending on how it is used. Top clear coat would still be required.

A. Hi Margot. Vacuum plating puts the jewelry into a vacuum which helps vaporize the silver or other metal, from which it re-deposits from vapor onto the jewelry. Of course there are lots of variations. But one thing that distinguishes it from electroplating in practicality, as previously mentioned, is that all of those variations require a vacuum chamber, which is not cheap to buy or operate, so it's only suited to reasonable volumes.

You implied that you were already doing clear coating, but clear coating can be lacquer, radiation cured (UV cured) clearcoats, electrophoretic paints, automotive 2-component clearcoats, etc. You can have some pieces silver plated and then lacquer a couple yourself, apply UV-cured clear nail polish type stuff to a couple, and coat a couple with automotive clear coat, and decide which you like best. Another alternative is to do rhodium plating on top of the silver plating.

We have numerous detailed discussions on clear coating silver jewelry and/or preventing silver tarnish if you search the site. Good luck.

Luck & Regards,

A. If your chain is brass or steel, you would still need to plate with Ni/Cr first to protect from corrosion or tarnishing. If you then vacuum deposit silver you will still have a tarnishing problem. There are PVD finishes that are wear and tarnish-resistant, and you might find one that is close enough to silver that it can be used. Suggest you find a decorative PVD coating shop and see what they can do for you rather than consider bringing PVD in-house. PS -- coating a long cable via PVD is pretty difficult, so you may have to cut your chains down a bit.