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High Hardness Nickel Electroforming

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Dear Sir or Madam:

Hi, I would like to producing embossing die by using High Hardness Nickel Electroforming processing,My purpose is transferring holograms on soft metal surface,like gold,silver or aluminum. The Nickel embossing die's hardness must be above HV500 with low inner strength.

Thank you very much.

Zhang Wei
Shanghai Inst.of Laser Tech. - Shanghai, China

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First of two simultaneous responses -- +++

Look into licensing a nickel-cobalt electroforming process; it will deliver mechanical properties that you won't be able to get out of pure nickel.

Ted Mooney, P.E. finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

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Second of two simultaneous responses -- +++

The simplest way is to use sodium saccharin in a nickel sulphamate bath. A stress-free deposit can be obtained with an addition of between 0.2 and 2g/l of saccharin. However, if the nickel is to be heated above 160C it will embrittle because of teh included sulphur. To overcome this, use cobalt in place of saccharin and deposit a nickel-cobalt alloy (say 10-15% Co in the deposit).

Trevor Crichton R&D practical scientist The Pheasantries - Chesham, U.K.