Summary for electroplated gold turns red Discussion
Electroplated gold turns red is discussed as a symptom with several possible causes rather than one fixed defect. The original poster says lowering pH to 5.5 and raising gold content to 10 g/L helped somewhat, but the reddish color still appears; they also report Ni at 144 ppm and Cu at 30 ppm and ask how to reduce those contaminants. Guillermo Marrufo suggests the issue may be surface topography rather than contamination, and recommends checking whether the red color disappears after a soft, bright mechanical polish. Tom Gallant says to look first at the nickel layer, because porosity can let copper migrate into the gold, and he advises chemical analysis of the gold surface. In an older reply, David says reddish gold can come from gold porosity, poor final rinsing, or bath contamination with metals such as copper or iron that co-deposit with the gold.
Q. I have met this problem for a long time, and it confused me. There are too many factors to cause this reddish phenomenon.
And we changed pH to low limit 5.5 and the content to the upper limit 10 g/L.
It seems we got some improvement but we still cannot solve it completely.
We analyzed the contents of Ni and copper and Ni=144 ppm, Cu=30 ppm, but we have not any method to decrease these contents only go on plating with above parameters to lower the effect of Ni and Copper.
Chanson Yuan
– Donguan, China
October 30, 2024
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Q. We are using Printed Wired Board with a selective electroplated gold realized with a deposition of gold over nickel over copper.
The Gold bath contain 99.7% pure gold, 0.25% Cobal (to have 180hv hard gold).
Actually we have a problem because the gold surface turn red if in contact with environment (originally we receive them as clean yellow). The boards are finished with olse OSP (Organic surface Preservative) studied not to remain on gold. Any idea about what kind of pollution can come from the plating process or PWB manufacturing final stages that can give this effect?
Alessio Agresti
electronics manufacturing – Bologna, Italy
2004
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 | A. This could also be a problem of surface topography instead of contamination. The reflectivity and wave length of the incident rays change by the surface condition. Check if the red color remains after a soft and bright mechanical polishing. Guillermo Marrufo A. A good place to look is at the Nickel plating. If it is porous the copper migrates into the Gold. A chemical analysis of the Gold surface can determine this. Tom Gallant |
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Q. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have a plating work shop in biggest jewellery manufacturers’ complex in Istanbul-Turkey.
My problem is when we electro-plate 23k gold on 18k rings, it sometimes turns red-ish after a while. l will be very thankful if anyone can solve my problem.
Mehmet Refik Atakoglu
– Turkey
October 15, 2012
A. Hi Mehmet,
Gold deposit turning reddish could be due to:
1. Gold porosity leading to corrosion.
2. Poor final water rinse after gold plating.
3. Gold plating bath is contaminated with metallic impurities, such as copper or iron, which co-deposit with gold during electroplating.
Regards,
David
David Shiu
– Singapore
A. Hi,
This can be because of many things but usually is due to low gold content in the bath, poor water rinse. Implement final hot water rinse and, if possible, anti-tarnish.
Gurudatta Thakur
– Mumbai, India