Letter 38017

Copper plating cold rolled steel discs  

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I am interested in a large scale plating process of applying copper onto cold rolled steel discs. The steel will be 0.050" thick,with a diameter of 0.750". Copper plating should be about 0.0004". Can the copper be applied directly, or is a flash plate of anything else required? How long would the discs need to be in solution, I would guess a barrel plating line? How well will the tokens hold up in use?

Jacob Katz
Private token manufacturer - Phila., PA, USA

The tokens could be cyanide copper plated, but it might be more satisfactory to cyanide copper strike them, then bright acid copper plate them. A barrel plating line would be ideal, but beware of two wet tokens sticking together by capillary action, with no plating between them. That would be less likely if the discs have features, like a rim or embossed or raised writing, etc. The plating time can be calculated, but until someone takes the time to do that, let's say about 20 minutes. Pennies are copper plated zinc, and they hold up well; no reason to suspect your tokens would fair more poorly. You can research exactly how pennies are plated because technical articles have been published on it.

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

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