Electroless Nickel Plating Aluminum Process Steps

However to electroless nickel plate or any other plate onto aluminum alloys successfully with good adhesion the oxide film must be removed and remain so during plating deposition.

Electroless nickel plating aluminum process steps. There is no need to pass an electric current through the chemical bath solution in order to initiate the plating process. En plating is selected because of its ability to protect aluminum from hostile environments and to make a hard wear resistant surface that allows aluminum to be. This means that instead of using an outside source of electricity like in the similar electroplating process the electroless nickel plating process uses a chemical bath to deposit a nickel phosphorous layer onto the metallic surface. The process of adding an electroless nickel plating to a metal surface is an autocatalytic chemical reduction.

The electroless nickel plating process is simpler than its counterpart electroplating. Electroless nickel is applied by heating the nickel bath to 195 f and then immersing the part to be plated into the bath for 15 60 minutes depending on the desired thickness. For example a common process is to use a 6 5 oz gal sodium hydroxide solution. Plating aluminum with electroless nickel is not difficult.

Electroless nickel phosphorus plating is a chemical process that deposits an even layer of nickel phosphorus alloy on the surface of a solid substrate like metal or plastic the process involves dipping the substrate in a water solution containing nickel salt and a phosphorus containing reducing agent usually a hypophosphite salt. Electroless nickel plating can be a simple and effective way of applying a nickel plate over steel iron copper brass zincated aluminum and copper alloys. The aluminum parts must be cleaned to remove greases oils and other soils. After this step the parts are treated with an alkaline dip and or an acid dip depending on the type of aluminum alloy being used.