The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
  

  -----

Bright nickel plated aluminum

I am trying to electroplate a bright nickel coating onto aluminum. I have a zincate layer followed by a copper strike layer. I have tried adding brighteners to our nickel sulfamate bath but the plate is very brittle. I have also tried a watts bath but the same thing happens. Every bath that I have tried is always brittle. I need shiny with great adhesion.

Molnar
- Canada
2001

---

Skip the Copper undercoat as this will give you adhesion problems contrary to popular belief. Double Zincate your parts carefully and directly plate in a normal Watts Bath.

Regards

Khozem Vahaanwala
Saify Ind

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

2001

---

After the double zincate I would advice to use an alkaline electroless nickel and than you can use a watts nickel. If you skip the alkaline EN then you will need a cyanide copper followed by a watts nickel. One more thing, are you sure that the problem is brittle nickel, maybe it is a poor adhesion coming from not adequate pretreatment. You did not mention a deoxidizer prior to the zincate. I hope a deox is a part of your preplating processes otherwise you will have adhesion problems.

Sara Michaeli
Tel-Aviv-Yafo, Israel
2001