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-----What is Duplex Nickel Plating
What specifically is the difference between nickel plating and DUPLEX nickel plating?

Dave Kinghorn
Chemical Engineer
SUNNYvale, California
1999
1999
"Duplex" in this context simply means "two layers"--traditionally semi-bright nickel followed by bright nickel.
Even in the days before the STEP test, it was recognized that this combination afforded better corrosion protection than a single layer of bright nickel of the same total thickness because the bright nickel corrodes preferentially to the semi-bright so the corrosion spreads laterally rather than perforating through to the underlying substrate. Today, with the STEP test, the potentials of the nickel layers can be closely controlled to optimize this tendency.

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