Plating Q&A: Sulfamate Nickel Plating and Chloride
To add chloride sulfamate nickel plating bath, or not.
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Q. One of our senior platers has suggested that we add chloride to our sulfamate nickel plating bath to make it plate faster. What are your thoughts on this?
A. There are pros and cons of adding chloride ion to a sulfamate nickel plating bath. The chloride ion is added to help with the dissolution of the anodes, though it is not essential. Adding chloride ion increases the anode efficiency. The downside is that as chloride concentration increases the tensile strength of the nickel deposit also increases. This increases the stress in the deposit which can cause cracking. Many customers require a chloride-free sulfamate nickel plating bath. Before considering adding chloride ion to the sulfamate bath, consider what your customers require.
Originally published in the October 2015 issue.
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