Letter 39085

Electroplating, electrocoating, electrodipping  

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Can anyone tell me what is the difference between electroplating, electrocoating and electrodipping?
Which gives a better surface finish and better resistance to wear?

Mimi
an engineer in China - Hong Kong

Electroplating means applying a metallic coating such as gold, nickel, or zinc. Electrocoating means applying an organic topping (paint) by the process of electrophoresis, such as is done in the priming of automobiles. Electrodipping has no established meaning as far as I know.

I would expect electroplated metals to have more wear resistance than electrocoated organic finishes.

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

Hi,

Difference between Electrophoretic Deposition Method and Plating. Is there a difference between EDM and Plating? I have looked it up in the internet but was unable to find out the difference. If i am not wrong, both processes uses the same principles, however Plating is mainly for deposition of metals on metal, whereas EDM encompasses a wider range of depositing materials?

Are there resources out there that i can read this up on?

Thanks,

Sherwin Chia
Mechanical Engineer for Mobile Phone Manufacturer - Singapore

I would suggest that you not use the acronym 'EDM' since this is widely used to mean Electrolytic Discharge Machining. Yes, electroplating refers to the deposition of metals whereas electrophoresis is used to deposit organic materials like paint.

Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

So why is AEP called the Allison Electrophoretic Process. The metal is connected to a cathode and surrounded by anode screens that deposit metal powder (I think mostly nickel) and not paint. Why is this not considered electroplating and why can a I find so little information on it. Whenever I search for information about this process, I keep getting directed to sources that are talking about paint instead of metal powder.

Alison Band
- Jacksonville, NC

Hi, Alison. I had to look it up, and I found that "Phoretic" actually just means "transport", so "electrophetic" only means that electrical charges are causing something to be transported.

When I have heard people use the term 'electrophoretic', they always meant electropainting/electrocoating; but apparently the term is not limited to organic coatings as I had thought. The Allison Electrophroretic Process deposits nickel aluminide coatings, without the metal dissolving into ions as in electroplating -- but I am not actually familiar with the process.

Regards,

Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

Thank you for the information and trying to help. I understand this process on a surface level, but struggle to understand it on a very intimate or technical level. Unfortunately, when we ran into problems there was little (read no) reference material I could find to pull from and investigate. Thank you very much for the efforts.

Alison Band
- Jacksonville, NC