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Gold Electroplating and Pulse Plating
(1995)
Q. Hi: I'm a Ph.D student in the chem. eng dept of the university of waterloo , Canada. I am trying to pulse plate gold onto Cu-Be. My gold bath is the typical KAuCN2 (potassium gold cyanide) salts in citrate buffer (i.e., Engelhard E-56 Bath). I am very naive when it comes to pulse plating so please excuse any questions that may seem "stupid". What are the typical "industrial" parameters for a good deposit for gold pulse-reversal plating. My power supply can only go down to msecs for on and off times. Sometimes I also get "shadows" of random dull and shiny regions. What could be some of the reasons? (Note that I apply a layer of Nickel onto the Cu-Be before gold plating).
I would also like to obtain a copy of AESF's BOOK: J.C. Puippe and F. Leaman (eds.) Theory and Practice of Pulse Plating [link is to product info at Amazon] , AESF (1986). I called AESF' publication dept. but they no longer sell any copies. Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy of this book. It seems our libraries in Canada do not have this book. Does anyone want to sell their copy? Does anyone have any info on other books about pulse plating specifically gold pulse plating? thank-you
Peter K [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]dept. of Chemical Engineering university of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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A. Hello, Peter, and thanks for visiting. Used copies of the Theory and Practice of Pulse Plating [link is to product info at Amazon] are sometimes available from Amazon by clicking on the hot linked book title above. Reid and Goldie's "Gold Plating Technology" covers pulse plating at least in passing.
I'm not sure that there are 'industrial' parameters for pulse plating; I don't recall ever seeing an article in a trade journal which presented pulse parameters for an actual mass-production industrial application.
I've heard one very knowledgeable researcher claim that the principal thing that pulse plating does is provide agitation to minimize the thickness of the boundary layer, thereby helping to make more ions available for deposition; and that, consequently, over concern about ramp rates & durations can be focusing on distinctions without a difference.
There were many articles on pulse plating published 5 to 10 years ago, and there was an annual pulse plating symposium, but I just don't see as much apparent journal interest today. I'm not saying less is done (probably more is done especially in printed circuit work), but it doesn't seem to be as hot a topic in current journals.
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 Ted Mooney, P.E. finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
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A. I am with Ted on this one. I did work with PR and pulsed current for gold plating at GTE. I never was able to achieve the desired results. I assume you want a more dense deposit. If you are looking for brightness you might want to use a non cyanide gold stripper (jewelry term for brightening) as the Jewelry industry for electroformed gold jewelry.
Gwynne I Edson
- Huntington Beach, California
January 20, 2010
Dear Peter K.
My name is Roozbeh. I am a student of materials science and engineering at Sharif University of technology (the best university in Iran), Iran. My Msc project is as same as yours. I am working on Gold Pulse Plating under the supervisor of Dr.Dolati; one of the best professor in the field of gold Plating. I have the book you mention. So please feel free to communicate. I hope we can share our data and experience about Gold pulse plating to improve our projects.
Hope to hear from you..
Roozbeh SiavashMsc Student of Materials Science and Engineering - Tehran, Iran
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Ed. note: Hi, Roozbeh. Sorry, but Peter K. probably completed his work years ago :-)
These pages are for public communications, and hopefully someone who is currently working on this will join you in conversation, so you are certainly encouraged to post any questions or any of your findings!
January 26, 2010
Dear Editor
As you mentioned Mr. Peter. K probably have finished his works years ago, so I think he can now really help me on my own Msc project (Hard Gold Pulse Plating). Hence it's so helpful for me to connect Mr. Peter. It's so important for me to find a person or a way to handle my project in a right way because my Msc project is an industrial project in addition to scientific form. So please help me to find a way (his email or phone no.) to connect with Mr. Peter. K.
Thank you so much.
- Tehran, Iran
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Ed. note: Hi, Roozbeh. Peter's letter was the 14th letter posted at finishing.com out of some 57,000 :-)
It was 15 years ago! We'll try to send him an email but 99+ percent of email addresses of that age don't work. Commercial matchmaking services for theses exist but, as you may know, they are not free. This site is designed specifically for public interaction and to discourage private contact that disenfranchises the other readers; for the second time, please post something about your project rather than insisting on using the site for a purpose and in a way that is contrary to what the operators, posters, other readers, and the supporting advertisers who make it possible, want :-)
Thanks and good luck!