Black Nickel Barrel Plating: Smart Topcoat Advice

Summary for black nickel barrel plating Discussion

Black nickel barrel plating process is discussed in response to a question from Telesforo Escalante, who wanted the bath chemistry, pH, plating time, and voltage for black nickel on brass parts of varying shapes and sizes in an automatic line. The answer advises that the proposed sequence may not be ideal: instead of using black nickel as the main plating step, the parts may be better served by a regular bright nickel plate, rinse, and then a black nickel topcoat. Rather than trying to formulate the bath from scratch, the responder recommends contacting plating chemical suppliers for a proprietary black nickel bath and its operating parameters. For technical background, the answer points to "Decorative Black Nickel Plating" by Wieczerniak and Tremmel in the June 1982 issue of Plating and Surface Finishing, and notes that the MFIS CD-ROM references additional black nickel articles.