Nickel plating

As you know, the main cause and effect of the use of various galvanic coatings is metal corrosion. Corrosion of metal products brings significant losses during their operation. According to statistics, about 10% of metal products fail and fail precisely for this reason.

Protecting metal from corrosion is an essential task. Among the many ways to protect metal products, one of the most effective is metal and non-metal coating, which is applied by galvanic (electrolytic) method.

Properties of electrolytic nickel plating of a metal surface.

The electrolytic layer that covers the product must have the following defining properties:

• durability
• improved electrical conductivity
• decorative, etc.

The nickel plating process is mainly used to obtain a protective and decorative coating. The nickel-plated surface acquires its decorative properties after polishing to a mirror shine, which lasts for decades.

It is recommended to use nickel coating as a protective coating with a copper sublayer. Because it provides a more non-porous layer. In addition, it allows to achieve greater efficiency of this process due to the use of cheaper metal.

In addition to its decorative properties, electroplated nickel plating also has high hardness and wear resistance. This allows the use of such products for the manufacture of measuring tools, for parts that will be operated in dry friction conditions.

Nickel plating can be of two types:

1. Electrolytic
2. Chemistry

The basis of chemical nickel plating is the reduction of nickel from aqueous solutions of its salts. On an industrial scale, precipitation is carried out from acidic and alkaline solutions.

Composition and working conditions of sulfate electrolytes.

Sulfate electrolytes are the most common and studied. However, they are very demanding in terms of compliance with the established operating conditions and the control of foreign impurities in the composition.

In addition to the mode, there are requirements for the very composition of electrolytes. The composition of the solution for nickel plating can mainly include:

• nickel sulfate
• sodium sulfate
• magnesium sulfate
• boric acid
• sodium chloride etc

Moreover, the obligatory condition for observing the nickel plating technology is the following parameters of the bath:

1. Operating temperature
2. Current Density
3. PH value
4. Cathode current output
5. Stirring and filtering.

The durability of the work depends on the fulfillment of all conditions for proper operation
electrolyte and the quality of the finished product.

Shiny nickel plating.

Shiny nickel electrolytes also exist. When implementing this process, the goal is to apply a protective and decorative coating, which is achieved by mechanical polishing of the coating or the use of various brightening agents in the composition of the electrolyte. For example, Butyndiol.

There are also additional types of electrolytes that have not received such widespread use: boron fluoride, sulfamic, oxalic acid.

Components for the composition of nickel plating electrolytes, as well as brightening additives and other you can buy chemicals for nickel plating in Kharkiv from the assortment of the online store of chemical reagents of the Novokhim Company.