List of electrolyte used for plating

A. Multiple electrolytes are used for all those metals, and even within a generic type of electrolyte there are countless variations. It would take a book to answer that question, and N.V. Parthasaradhy's "Practical Electroplating Handbook" is a great one for that purpose.

Electrolytes are not banned, and in most cases the electrolyte does not persist in the final coating. The banned materials are lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB, and PBDE, which probably rules lead off your list. But sometimes a plating material or a topcoat can have offensive amounts of one of those materials and must be reformulated, so you must specify RoHS-compliant processing. There may be exemptions for some of your products.

A. ABS is the most commonly plated plastic, although several other types can be plated. "Standards and Guidelines for Electroplated Plastics" will give you a thorough introduction to plating of plastics. Electroless plating does not require electricity, the plating is autocatalytic; it starts on a seeded layer of catalytic material, then continues plating upon itself. Good luck.

A. Hi, Maryam. At least 90% of all silver electroplating, and maybe 99%, has always been done from potassium argentocyanide and continues to be. Good luck.

Regards,